MAX Whitlock’s coach Scott Hann has revealed the star gymnast will take a two week break from action to fully recover from glandular fever.

The Basildon based Whitlock had been struggling with the illness in the build up to last week’s European Championships where he failed to make the pommel horse or floor finals.

And the 22-year-old will now not be training for a fortnight in order to for him to fully recover.

“Max is having two weeks of rest now and will hopefully be able to go away somewhere nice on holiday to have a bit of a break and recover from the illness,” confirmed Hann, who coaches Whitlock at South Essex Gymnastics Club.

“After that we will ease him back into training with another two week programme because we have to make sure he’s healthy.

“The next competition we’re working towards is the London Open in September which counts towards qualifying for the World Championships.

“But we obviously have a bit of time between now and then to make sure Max is in the best shape possible.”

Whitlock burst onto the scene with two bronze medals at the 2012 Olympics in London before going on to win three golds at last summer’s Commonwealth Games and an impressive silver in the all around final at the World Championships.

Whitlock has therefore not endured too many unsuccessful events.

But Hann was still keen to point towards the positives of his European Championships performances.

“We always knew it was a gamble going there but there were still some positives for Max,” said Hann.

“He was actually very, very good but just made a couple of slight errors.

“On the pommel that led to him missing one of the special requirements and that saw him lose a point.

“But if that had not have happened he would’ve been up in the second place.

“These things can happen and we will make a slight tweak to the routine to try and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

However, Hann is now backing Whitlock to bounce back from the disappointment and insists his confidence is still sky high.

“We were able to sit and watch the events and it was a good learning curve,” said Hann.

“The scores were all very achievable for Max so he’s still confident and I’m sure he will come back stronger from this once he recovers from the illness.”