MAX Whitlock admitted nerves almost got the better of him after the double Olympic champion experienced mixed fortunes on the opening day of the World Gymnastics Championships in Montreal.

Whitlock missed out on a place in the men’s floor final after a late stumble but recovered with a strong pommel routine to keep alive his hopes of defending the title he won in Glasgow in 2015.

The Basildon based 24-year-old had spent a rare period out of the gym in the wake of his heroics in Rio and said his relatively short build-up to the Championship had contributed to his rare attack of nerves.

Whitlock said: “To be honest that was probably the most nervous I’ve been in my career.

“Everyone expects me to do well on pommel but I’d had a short, tight build-up and it was tough out there.

“I’m happy because I can learn a lot from that.

“I know that if I can feel as nervous as I did Monday and still come through with a performance like that, then it’s a good thing.

“Hopefully my nerves will be much more settled for the final.”

Whitlock had gone to Montreal hoping to also make an impression on the floor after his surprise gold in Rio, and almost nailed another strong routine before his late stumble ensured he scored 13.333 and would not make the final cut.

“But his subsequent routine on the pommel scored 15.3, enough to put him in first place in pommel qualifying with two more sub-divisions still to come, effectively guaranteeing his place in the Saturday final.

He added: “I was gutted about the floor because I felt like I landed that tumble until the last minute, but I have to be realistic and know I put four new tumbles in and I always knew it was going to be tough.

“I pushed and increased the risk massively but it didn’t quite come off. But as a result of upgrading my routine now, hopefully it means that in a couple of years’ time I’ll have got those numbers under my belt.”