MAX Whitlock was left disappointed as he missed out on a pommel horse medal at the European Championships.

Competing in Glasgow, the double Olympic champion went into the contest as the favourite to come away with a gold medal.

But Whitlock came off midway through his pommel routine and scored 14.0, which ruled the South Essex Gymnastics Club member out of contention for a place in the top three and saw him finish in seventh place.

And although the Basildon-based gymnast was frustrated, he confirmed he will concentrate on the positives.

Whitlock said: “I’ve just had one of those days again and hopefully there won’t be many more of them.

“I made a mistake but the second half of my routine was one of the cleanest I’ve ever competed with a new skill.

“I look at the positives all the time and the thing here is that I still scored 14.0 even with a one-point deduction for the fall.”

The error came less than 24 hours after Whitlock played a key role in Great Britain winning silver on the high bars.

The five-strong team had dragged back a significant qualification deficit to almost a single point heading onto the last piece of apparatus, but falls for Dominick Cunningham and James Hall ended Great Britain’s hopes of snatching gold.

Russia ultimately triumphed after scoring 257.260 points, while Great Britain were in the runners-up position thanks to their points haul of 253.362.

Despite improving his floor routine, Whitlock once again struggled on his favoured pommel and was marked down by the judges to a relatively lowly 14.433 after being deemed to have missed one of his elements.

Whitlock went into yesterday’s pommel routine determined to pull out his best routine and beat Rhys McClenaghan and David Belyavskiy - who eclipsed him in qualifying - to the individual crown.

But Ireland’s McClenaghan was able to seal top spot after putting in an impressive performance.

The Newtownards teenager scored 15.300 to better the personal best that he set during Thursday’s qualifying round.

McClenaghan also claimed gold at Whitlock’s expense in the Commonwealth Games held on Australia’s Gold Coast earlier this year.

The 19-year-old’s fine year continued by clinching first place at the World Cup.

Whitlock’s frustrations came after shining in Scotland’s second city in 2014 and 2015.

Glasgow hosted the Commonwealth Games four years ago - where Whitlock won three gold medals, a silver and bronze - while the 25-year-old a gold and silver in the World Championships 12 months later.