Former Georgia Bulldog NCAA Champion Earns Bronze Medal At World Championships

GLASCOW, Scotland — Former Georgia NCAA champion Johannes Erm earned a bronze medal in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glascow, Scotland, Sunday.

Erm, a native of Tallinn, Estonia, scored 6,340 points to finish third in the two-day heptathlon. His performance featured four personal bests and a trio of season bests as he works to punch his ticket to another Olympics this summer.

Erm won the 2019 NCAA decathlon title and three combined Southeastern Conference heptathlon and decathlon championships during his time in red and black. In his final season in 2023, Erm helped pace teammate Kyle Garland in the heptathlon’s finale, the 1000 meters, to the NCAA heptathlon crown with a collegiate record score.

A pair of American sprinters with Bulldog affiliations also earned silver medals in the men and women’s 4x400m relay finals. Matthew Boling ran a leg on the men’s relay squad that clocked a 3:02.60 for second place. Bailey Lear, who is a current assistant for Georgia, was part of Team USA’s foursome in the women’s relay who ran a 3:25.34 to cross the finish line in second place.

Another former Lady Bulldog All-American duo also posted top-seven finishes at the World Championships. Keturah Orji, who recently won her 10th U.S. title, managed a fourth-place finish after traveling 14.36 meters/47 feet, 1 ¼ inches in the triple jump. Tatiana Gusin went over the high jump bar at 1.88m/6-2 and left Glascow with a seventh-place finish.