GREAT Britain’s Max Whitlock won silver in the pommel horse final at the World Gymnastics championships in Antwerp.

The 20-year-old Olympic double bronze medallist completed the most difficult pommel horse routine in the world – with a 7.2 difficulty tariff – to score 15.633.

That score saw the South Essex Gymnastics Club member go one better than his London 2012 third place to finish behind Japan’s Kohei Kameyama who won gold with 15.833.

Whitlock tied for second place with Mexico’s Daniel Corral Barron, while there was also a tie for fourth place with Italy's Alberto Busnari and China's Hongtao Zhang both finishing with 15.600 in a hotly-contested final.

Britain’s reigning European pommel horse champion Dan Keatings and Olympic champion Krisztian Berki were not in the final after both gymnasts fell from the apparatus during qualification.

But it was still a very competitive field and Whitlock, who finished fourth in Thursday’s all-around final, added world silver to his Olympic team and pommel horse bronze, European team and floor gold and pommel bronze medals.

“I was just happy to get through the routine,” said Whitlock who trains at Basildon Sporting Village.

“Some of the bits were scrappy but I’m just happy to get through the routine.”

Whitlock hopes his results from this competition mark an upward curve in his form as he continues on the road to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

He added: “I’m looking forward to the competitions ahead. Hopefully I will be able to qualify for them and I’m looking forward to those experiences.”