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

• British gymnast almost certainly into final
• Whitlock aiming for third Olympic pommel gold

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 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 he can handle that pressure. He did so again on Saturday, working through a tight, clean and difficult routine to almost certainly qualify for the final on a brilliant day for British gymnastics.

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