Karel Tilga (born 5 February 1998) is an Estonian athlete who competes in the decathlon.
Tilga was born in Valga[1] and grew up in Puka until the eight grade, when the family moved to Tartu.[2] He attended school at Tartu Kristjan Jaak Petersoni Gymnasium before enrolling at the University of Georgia, graduating in 2022.[1] In 2021 he won for Georgia Bulldogs (men) their fifth ever NCAA individual title (second in the heptathlon) by scoring a school record 6,264 to win the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships with the No. 2 all-time collegiate performance.[3] He scored a near 400 point-improvement on his decathlon lifetime best at the Specs Town Invitational in Athens, Georgia in April 2021 besting Garrett Scantling by just 8 points. Tilga's score reached the Olympic qualifying standard of 8350 points for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[4] At the Olympics he received 0 in pole vault and eventually finished 20th.[5] He did not finish the 2022 European Championships after also receiving 0 in pole vault.
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