Wilson in shock as he proves team gold is no fluke by winning all-round bronze

The 18-year-old from Leeds, who was still competing in the junior ranks as recently as May, finished third behind compatriot Max Whitlock in the all-round competition yesterday.

But Wilson, who won five of eight medals available at the European Junior Championships earlier this summer, admitted that he was not expecting to come away with an all-round medal from yesterday’s competition.

“It was a surprise,” said the Leeds Gymnastics Club member.

“I didn’t come here expecting to win an all-round medal, and the team gold was unbelievable.

“I came into today not expecting much, just focusing on my job and trying to hit my routines, and it came off and I’m really, really happy to win a bronze medal. It’s unbelievable.”

Whitlock won gold with a total of 90.631 across all six pieces of apparatus to finish ahead of Scotland’s Dan Keatings (88.298) in the silver medal position with Wilson (87.965) in bronze. Wilson has three more events to contest, starting with this evening’s rings final, and followed by tomorrow’s parallel bars and high bar events.

Whitlock led Keatings by two clear marks going into the final piece of apparatus, the high bar, but absorbed the pressure of being the last man to compete to produce the best score of the day on the piece – 15.100 – to claim a well-deserved gold.

“I just wanted to get the job done and get clean routines,” said Whitlock.