Tokyo 2020: Max Whitlock wins gold in men’s pommel horse

Max Whitlock has won the gold in the men’s pommel horse for Team GB.

The defending Olympic champion produced a stunning display with a score of 15.583, which no-one else in the field was able to match, winning Team GB’s tenth gold medal in the process.

Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chih Kai took the silver with a score of 15.400, while Japan’s Kazuma Kaya held on for the bronze with a score of 14.900.

Whitlock took to the pommel first, maintaining excellent momentum throughout his routine and celebrating with a fist pump at the end. From then, he sat and watched to see if any of his fellow competitors could usurp his lead. The three-time Olympic medallist David Belyavisky of the Russian Olympic Committee just fell short of the medals with a score of 14.833, and after Lee Chih Kai (who scored highest in qualifying) fell second, the result was all but certain.

Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan, who qualified with the joint top score alongside Lee, came off the apparatus early and missed out on a medal.

Whitlock had previously won two bronzes at London, followed by two gold medals and a bronze at Rio 2016. He is the most successful gymnast ever on the pommel horse, with two Olympic golds and three World Championship golds.