Max Whitlock described his “crazy” relief after the double defending champion successfully negotiated the qualifying round for the Olympic men’s pommel competition at the Bercy Arena in Paris .
Whitlock was one of a record-breaking number of eight British male gymnasts to seal their places in individual finals on Saturday, with Jake Jarman and Luke Whitehouse through on floor, Harry Hepworth on rings, Hepworth and Jarman on vault, and Jarman and Joe Fraser in the all-around.
The respective successes of Hepworth and Jarman also mean it will be the first time in history that Great Britain has been represented in either a vault or rings final at the Olympics.
Whitlock, who is competing at his last Games, scored 15.166, placing him second behind Stephen Nedoroscik of the US after the first qualifying rotation, a result that means his place in next Saturday’s eight-man apparatus final is effectively assured.
The 31-year-old, who won the pommel title in both 2016 and 2020 but has struggled with injury since reversing a retirement decision in the wake of his success in Tokyo, believes he is still capable of plenty of improvements.
“The relief is crazy,” admitted Whitlock, who also did his bit to help the team with routines on horizontal and parallel bars. “I had to wait a while to present that routine, so I was mega pleased.
“Of course there’s some increases I can make, some bits that I can clean up a little bit, difficulty I can increase on. But it’s a huge relief to come out and do it successfully.”
A successful team performance saw Great Britain top the standings after first rotation ahead of the US and Germany, and they eventually qualified for the team final in third position behind China and Japan, giving them a good chance of landing their first team medal since bronze at London 2012.
Fraser, the former world parallel bars final whose all-around score of 84.666 was only eclipsed by team-mate Jarman in the first rotation, paid tribute to his team’s ability to deliver under pressure.
“Me and the team really just gave it our all out there,” said Fraser. “We really put our necks on the line and just gave it our all.
“We weren’t really focusing too much on the finals, it was more about trying to put out our best work today. And I think we did as much as we could. I’m proud of each and every one of us.”
Jarman was the top-scoring qualifier on floor with a score of 14.966, while Hepworth marked his Olympic debut by qualifying in second place on vault.
Whitlock qualified in third place on pommel after Ireland’s reigning world champion Rhys McClenaghan matched Nedoroscik’s score of 15.200 in the final rotation of the evening.
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