MAX Whitlock was proud to help Great Britain finish fifth in the team final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart yesterday.

Whitlock and his side produced a series of solid performances.

And the Basildon-based gymnast was pleased with the team’s effort.

“We can look back at it and think we didn’t get a medal but if you look at the teams we were up against it was a very hard competition,” said Whitlock.

“We wouldn’t want it any other way but as a team collectively I thought we were amazing.

“There’s still more we can do and there’s more I need to do too.

“If we look at the scores we have the potential to go higher and get closer to the top three teams and that’s our goal.

“We just have to do it on the day.”

But Whitlock was keen to stay upbeat.

“We can take so many positives from this and we will look to really crack it at the next championships,” said Whitlock, who trains at South Essex Gymnastics Club.

“We have to collectively get it together.”

Whitlock scored 13.066 on high bar and 14.133 on pommel after a fall he is eager to bounce back from.

“I put my hardest difficulty out there and I made a mistake so there’s stuff for me to work on moving forwards as well,” said Whitlock.

“But I always say you learn from mistakes and I’ll learn from this and hopefully not make the mistake again.”

Whitlock, 26, will now be gunning for glory in the pommel final which takes place in Germany on Saturday.