World Gymnastics: Britain’s Max Whitlock endures 'tough' day

Whitlock won three gold medals in Glasgow

Gymnast Max Whitlock missed out on the all-around and floor finals after a difficult qualification round at the World Artistic Championships in China.

Whitlock, 21, won Commonwealth titles in both events this summer, but fell during his floor routine and finished outside the required top eight.

Britain's Dan Purvis and Nile Wilson both scored higher than Whitlock in the all-around standings.

Only the top two from each nation progress to the final.

The British men's squad totalled 357.193 from six apparatus, which earn them a place in Tuesday's team final.

The six-strong group of Whitlock, Purvis, Wilson, Kristian Thomas, Dan Keatings and Courtney Tulloch were among the first set of nations to compete in team and individual apparatus qualification in the south Chinese city of Nanning.

They ranked behind hosts China (362.698) with the remaining countries - including USA, Russia and Japan - contesting for places on Saturday.

Whitlock, who won European gold on the pommel horse earlier this year and has a personal best of 16.1, scored just 15.233 after struggling to find his rhythm and is likely to miss out on that final, too.

"It was really tough out there and I'm not sure quite what went wrong," he told BBC Sport.

"I think I'm really feeling it now because there have been a lot of competitions this year, but I've just got to try and put it behind me and start with a clean-slate come the team final."

Team-mate and Commonwealth pommel horse champion Keatings could also miss the final in his favoured event, after scoring 15.333 to rank fifth.

However, there was better news for British senior debutant Tulloch who produced a stunning routine on the rings and put himself in contention for a place in the individual final.

"I was nervous today, but I just tried to think of it as a normal event and I couldn't believe it when I saw the score," said Tulloch, after his 15.7 total.

Commonwealth high-bar champion Wilson, 18, only made the step up to senior level this year and could yet reach the world final in the event after ranking fourth.

The women's qualifiers begin on Saturday, with the British team in the second group of nations to compete, meaning they will begin their campaign on Monday.