Saturday 31 October 2015
As the spooky prospect of All Hallows’ Eve descended on Glasgow, gymnastics fans at the SSE Hydro were treated to a frighteningly brilliant display of athleticism by 22-year-old Max Whitlock.
Proving himself to be the undisputed wizard of the Pommel Horse, Whitlock weaved his magic spell over a rocking Hydro to take gold, killing the dreams of his opponents to claim ‘Worlds’ domination in front of the ecstatic home crowd.
Scoring a spell-binding 16.133 points to finish top of the leader board, the devilishly brilliant Basildon boy became the first British man to claim the accolade of World Champion.
Earlier in the day, Max worked his magic to become Britain's first silver medal winner in the men's floor exercise since Neil Thomas in 1994, taking silver behind Japan’s Kenzo Shirai, to bring his outstanding 2015 World Gymnastics Championships medal haul to one gold and two silvers across the ten day competition.
But Max wasn’t the only magical Brit to steal a medal on the penultimate day of competition – teammate Louis Smith’s performance saw him take silver behind wizardly-god Whitlock, serving up a spookily brilliant British one, two in the Pommel Horse final.
And the spooky goings on didn’t stop in the Men’s Finals. Over in the ladies competition it seemed a case of ‘double, double toil and trouble’ as China's Fan Yilin, Madison Kocian from the United States and Russian team-mates Viktoria Komova and Daria Spiridonova all scored 15.366 to create a four-way tie for the top spot in the Uneven Bars and event organisers had to quickly magic up four gold medals!
Halloween offered spectators the chance to see the world’s most formidable gymnasts tackle five disciplines, including the men on Floor, Pommel Horse and Rings and the women on the Uneven Bars and Vault in the first of two days of Apparatus Finals at the 2015 World Gymnastics Championship.
Sunday’s crowd are in for more tricks and treats as Brits, Claudia Fragapane and Ellie Downey fight it out on the Floor, whilst Nile Wilson will attempt to assert his dominance on Parallel Bars. Spectators will be hoping that their favourite gymnasts manage to avoid any horror shows and instead deliver a fearsome display of athletic prowess as five more gold medals are up for grabs in Glasgow.
Max will be taking a well-earned break from competing tomorrow, but with one more day of competition to go why not join Wizard Whitlock and book yourself a seat in the Hydro to soak up the atmosphere and watch the final day of the Worlds? Tickets are available here.