MAX Whitlock has made history by becoming the first British man to win a gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championships.

The 22-year-old, from Basildon, capped a memorable week by taking gold on the pommel horse.

He knocked his Great Britian team-mate Louis Smith off the top spot with a stunning display that scored him 16.133 points.

Earlier in the session, Whitlock won a silver medal for his individual floor routine.

Those individual medals will go alongside the silver he won with the British squad, which included his South Essex Gym club team-mate Brinn Bevan, in the team final.

It could have been even better but Whitlock blew his opportunity for an individual all-around medal on Friday evening when he slipped off the high bar to eventually finish fifth.

“It’s been brilliant; to be honest I can’t really believe it. The word to describe this week is historic,” said Whitlock, who also won two bronze medals at London 2012 as well as three golds at last year’s Commonwealth Games.

“Louis couldn’t be happier for me, and that’s just what our sport is like, and what our team is like in particular – we want everyone to do the best they possibly can.

“The journey to this competition has been very long, and to pull it off under that pressure makes me very happy – although I wasn’t watching Louis as I was in the back gym warming up.

“I didn’t even hear the crowd as it is a long walk over from there, but I knew Louis would do his job as he is a persistent and very talented pommel worker, and I just had to focus on mine.

“It wasn’t until I stepped off the podium at the end of my routine that I saw his score, and I knew it was going to be close, it was up to the judges then.”

Whitlock has proved himself to be the British team’s greatest bounce-back artist, showing huge character to come back from Friday evening’s disappointment in the all-around.

And after also coming back from the glandular fever that kept him out of the British Championships earlier this year, Whitlock admitted his success tasted all the sweeter.

He added: “I haven’t competed like I did here for a very long time.

“The beginning of the year was a bit shaky for me, so to come here and do this has been massive and I couldn’t ask for more.

"But I’ve got these results behind me now, and I’ve hit my targets massively. I can go into my next competitions and the Olympics next year with a lot of confidence – and so can the whole of Team GB.”

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