Whitlock puts the team first
MAX WHITLOCK helped England to a seven-minute gold-medal treble blitz on the opening day of the Games.
The double Olympic champion looked in superb form as the men won the gymnastics team final in convincing fashion.
Cyclist Sophie Thornhill had bagged England’s first gold moments earlier with swimmer Aimee Willmott completing the quickfire hat-trick.
Whitlock is not defending his individual all-round title on the Gold Coast, opting instead for just the pommel horse and floor disciplines he won in Rio.
The 25-year-old came into the competition for the last two exercises with England all but assured of the gold.
And Whitlock top-scored in both as they finished 10 marks clear of Canada having won all six rotations with 258.960 points. Scotland took the bronze.
Whitlock is known for not watching his rivals during the heat of battle but this time he even kept himself isolated from his team-mates.
But he eventually made his late appearance at the Coomera Indoor Sports Centre to seal gold alongside Nile Wilson, James Hall, Courtney Tulloch and Dominick Cunningham.
“It’s annoying because I really want to watch them but I also want to do my best job for the team and that is the way it has always worked best for me,” he said. “The team did incredibly well and I’m really pleased.”
Wilson top-scored in the parallel and horizontal bars to book his spot in the all-round competition along with Hall, with only two from each country qualifying.