Johannes Erm (born March 26, 1998) is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

decathlete The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθ� ...

and the reigning European champion and a silver medalist at the

2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships The 20th World Athletics Indoor Championships were held from 21 to 23 March 2025 in Nanjing, People's Republic of China, at the newly built Nanjing's Cube gymnasium in the Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park. Nanjing was originally due to host the ...

in the heptathlon. He competed at the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2024 Olympic Games The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. He won the 2019 NCAA championships in the decathlon.

Career

Johannes Erm was born March 26, 1998, in Tartu. He started school in Tallinn Secondary School of Science. In his youth he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in the Estonian club

FC Flora FC Flora, commonly known as Flora Tallinn, or simply as Flora, is an Estonian professional football club based in Tallinn that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium. Fo ...

. In 2011, he transitioned into

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

and started training with his trainer at the time Holger Peel. In 2017 he finished high school and went to study

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. Where he was coached by Petros Kyprianou. In 2021 his coach changed to James Thomas. In 2023, after finishing his studies and returning to Estonia, his coach changed back to Holger Peel. He finished eleventh in the decathlon at the delayed

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan, with a tally of 8213 points. He finished ninth at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, finishing with a tally of 8227 points in the decathlon. He also placed ninth in the decathlon at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships (), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, were held from 19 to 27 August 2023 at the National Athletics Centre (Budapest), National Athletics Centre, in Budapest, Hungary. The tourna ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Hungary, with a personal best score of 8484 points. He was selected to compete in the heptathlon at the 2024 World Athletics Championships in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, in March 2024, and finished in third place overall to win the bronze medal with a personal best 6340 points. Competing in the decathlon he was a gold medalist at the

2024 European Athletics Championships The 26th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 to 12 June 2024 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. It was the third time Italy staged this sporting event after the inaugural 1934 European Athletics Championships, 1934 edition in T ...

in Rome in June 2024, with a personal best tally of 8764 points. Whilst competing at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he finished in sixth place overall. In March 2025, he competed in the heptathlon at the

2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held from 6 to 9 March 2025 at the Omnisport Apeldoorn arena in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. The four-day competition features thirteen men's, thirteen women's and one mixed athletics events over t ...

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

, Netherlands, finishing in fourth place with 6380 points, coming close to a medal, finishing just eight points behind bronze medalist Till Steinforth of Germany. He followed that by also competing in the heptathlon at the

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, China, later in the same month, and this time came away with a medal as he set an Estonian national record of 6437 points to win the silver medal behind

Sander Skotheim Sander Aae Skotheim (born 31 May 2002) is a Norwegian decathlete, multi-event track and field, athlete. He is a European Athletics Championships, European Championships silver medallist in decathlon, and a World Athletics Indoor Championships, W ...

of Norway, whilst Germany’s Till Steinforth claimed bronze with 6275.

International competitions

Outdoor records

Results of the personal best decathlon

Indoor records

Results of the personal best heptathlon

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erm, Johannes 1998 births Living people Athletes from Tartu Estonian decathletes Georgia Bulldogs men's track and field athletes Estonian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Estonia World Athletics Championships athletes for Estonia NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists