MAX Whitlock has made history by becoming the first man to win gold for Great Britain at the World Gymnastics Championships.

Whitlock held off the challenge of team-mate Louis Smith on pommel horse, who had to settle for silver at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. Both posted in excess of the 16-point barrier – with only 0.1 separating the duo.

Ending a 112-year wait for Great Britain’s first men’s gold medallist, it marks yet another major milestone in what has been a stratospheric rise through the global gymnastics ranks.

Until these championships, the now retired Beth Tweddle was the only British gymnast to achieve world champion status taking gold twice on asymmetric bars and once on floor.

In less than a handful of years, though, Great Britain has gone from plucky underdog to pushing for domination on a world stage.

Afterwards Whitlock looked one part elated, two parts incredulous at his achievement.

“That was brilliant,” he said. “To be honest, I can’t believe it. This whole week has been historic. Team GB is in a very good place and has a lot of confidence going into next year.

“Louis couldn’t be happier for me. That is what our sport is like. We support each other. Louis did a brilliant job – the whole team has this week – and everyone is over the moon.

“It feels amazing,” he added. “It has been a lot of hard work and the journey to this competition has been very long. I’m happy to go out there, perform on that stage and pull it off under pressure.”

Harutyun Merdinyan (Armenia) and Kazuma Kaya (Japan) tied for bronze with 15.500 apiece.

Amid all the excitement, another stellar achievement by Whitlock, 22, could be easily overlooked with Great Britain’s hero of the hour also claiming silver in his first world floor final.

Only Kenzo Shirai of Japan was superior, producing his eponymous quadruple twist as part of an overall sublime performance to score a huge 16.233 and win gold.

Putting the disappointment of his fall on high bar in Friday’s all-around final behind him, Whitlock produced a high difficulty and polished routine to post 15.566.

Rayderley Miguel Zapata Santana (Spain) took bronze with 15.200. Scotland’s Daniel Purvis, with a solid routine, finished in fifth.

One has to give some credit to Smith. The 26-year-old reigning European champion has already previously taken world silver and two bronze on pommel horse.

It was his monumental accomplishment of bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing that was arguably a key catalyst for current British success.

Smith said that his overwhelming emotion was relief. Having battled illness in recent days, he was clearly delighted to come away with a medal at all.

He admitted to feeling like he was still playing catch-up following his two year break after winning silver at London 2012.

“It has been an effort,” said Smith. “I’m only here really to do pommels. People might think that is a small job, but it is quite intense to come here and have all your responsibility on just one apparatus.

"I’m pleased I performed for the team and individually I’m pleased I got through my routines.

“To get to the end of the competition with a silver medal is unbelievable," he added. "It is hard not to be pleased.

"Don’t get me wrong, I would love a gold medal but I have been training with the boys very closely for the last four weeks in Lilleshall and you see how much effort everyone is putting in.”

This gives Great Britain a total of five medals so far making it their most successful world championships to date.  

Asymmetric bars saw the unusual predicament of four women tying in first place with Fan Yilin (China), Viktoria Komova (Russia), Daria Spiridonova (Russia) and Madison Kocian (USA) all sharing the top spot on the podium.

It's the first-ever four-way tie at the world championships. Ruby Harrold (Great Britain) finished in seventh.

On vault Maria Paseka (Russia) upstaged favourite Simone Biles (USA) to claim gold.

Hong Un-jong (North Korea) took silver with Biles, runner-up the past two years, finishing in bronze.

Ellie Downie (Great Britain) was fourth while Dipa Karmakar (India), who attempted an incredibly difficult Produnova vault – a skill that has only ever been landed by five gymnasts in international competition – placed fifth.

Eleftherios Petrounias (Greece) won the rings final while You Hao (China) and Liu Yang (China) finished second and third respectively.

Tomorrow (Sunday) will see Great Britain’s Nile Wilson contest the parallel bars finals with Ellie Downie and four-time Commonwealth Games champion Claudia Fragapane on floor.

USA’s Biles will compete on beam and floor – she is defending world champion on both.

The 18-year-old, who is already a double gold medallist in these championships, will be joined on the latter apparatus by her best friend and team-mate Maggie Nichols.