MAX Whitlock has been named on the shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

The Basildon gymnast, 22, became the first Brit to win a gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championships, when he triumphed on the pommel horse in Glasgow last month.

Whitlock, a member of South Essex Gym Club, also helped the British team win silver medals in the team competition at the World Championships.

And all this came after he fought back from a bout of glandular fever earlier in the year.

Whitlock will be up against Lewis Hamilton, Lizzie Armitstead, Lucy Bronze, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah, Chris Froome, Tyson Fury, Adam Peaty, Andy Murray, Greg Rutherford and Kevin Sinfield.

The winner will be announced at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in Belfast on Sunday, December 20.

The news comes days after Whitlock's South Essex Gym Club training partner Brinn Bevan was nominated for the BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

However, there was no place for Basildon's Stuart Bingham on the shortlist who was crowned world snooker champion this year.