Max Whitlock cool under pressure to lay down medal marker on pommel

The Olympics qualifying round is one of the most tense days of some gymnasts’ careers. While there is not a medal on offer, the prospect of their hopes and dreams crumbling to dust on the first day of competition looms over them all. That is even truer for a specialist gymnast such as Max Whitlock, who now puts almost all his efforts into thriving on the pommel horse. One wrong move and the dream is over.

Time and again, though, Whitlock has shown that he can handle that pressure. He did so again on Saturday afternoon, working through a tight, clean and difficult routine to almost certainly qualify for next Saturday’s final on a brilliant day for British gymnastics.

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A relieved Whitlock described the competition as the hardest he has experienced. “It’s my last Olympic Games,” he said. “When it comes to qualifications, we’re in a sport that – I’m going to say it – I think we do one of the hardest sports because you get one shot and if that doesn’t go right on that first day, when the nerves are the highest and the pressure is through the roof, it could stop there. In your head, as a mindset thing, that’s so hard to deal with.”

Whitlock recorded 15.166 and he finished the first subdivision in second place. Although there are still two more to come, Whitlock’s score will almost certainly qualify him for the final, where he is seeking to become the first gymnast to win three pommel horse Olympic gold medals in a row.

In addition to Whitlock being at his fourth and final Games, this situation is particularly different  because of the presence of his five-year‑old  daughter, Willow, in the stands, who is finally old enough to truly grasp what he does and support him.

“It’s one of the best feelings coming in here, this Olympics, knowing it’s my fourth one, but I can provide that experience to my family and Willow to come out here and watch, not just watch it on video,” he said.

“The boys didn’t want to distract me around parallel bars time but apparently she was screaming a lot.”

Beyond Whitlock, Great Britain’s biggest chance of an individual gymnastics medal comes from Jake Jarman, the reigning vault world champion. An enormous 14.966 on the floor exercise means he will likely qualify with one of the top scores.

On the vault, where Jarman is the world champion from last year, he had to settle for the second-best qualifying score of his team after Harry Hepworth produced two brilliant vaults, scoring 14.766. While Jarman started well by nailing his difficult first, he overpowered his second vault and stumbled backwards for a mark of 14.699. Both scores should be enough for qualification, but they will have to wait until qualification ends this evening.

Britain beat the United States by more than three points, a rivalry that is likely to be rekindled in the men’s team final on Monday when they battle for a medal. Jarman and Joe Fraser performed brilliantly in the all‑around qualification and finished the first subdivision ranked No 1 and No 2 with numerous top contenders to follow.