Dan Purvis helps Team GB take giant step to Rio

A strong showing by Dan Purvis saw the Scot finish as Britain’s highest all-around scorer to help the team take a giant step towards Rio 2016 at the World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow

Team GB's Dan Purvis finished as Britains highest all-around scorer in Glasgow. Picture: SNS Group

With the girls already safely qualified for next summer’s Olympics, Purvis and Co took to the SSE Hydro Arena yesterday knowing a top-eight team finish would be enough to join them.

What followed was a strong series of performances as Britain racked up 354.417 to put themselves in strong contention for a final berth.

For Purvis, pictured, it was even better as the 24-year-old scored 88.956 to finish top of the pile for the Brits – Max Whitlock second with 88.365.

The Scot admitted it was a huge relief to have come through qualification after a difficult start on the high bar.

“I’m really happy to have got the highest score but to be honest it was all about the team performance and making sure we did our job,” he said.

“It’s a huge relief to come through it. It was nerve-wracking at the start and there were a few ups and downs early on so I’m just happy to have gone clean six for six.

“I didn’t really look at the scores too much going through it but to finish my parallel bars clean and come out on top gives me massive confidence.

“It’s always a bit nicer in finals because it’s all or nothing, whereas qualifiers you have to wait a bit and you know you just have to stay on that apparatus.”

Britain will have to wait until tonight to know if they have done enough to seal their spot at Rio but Purvis, pictured, is confident that they will be on the plane to Brazil.

With the main objective complete, he says that the team can go into Wednesday’s final without any pressure and put in a real fight for a podium spot.

“I think my all-around score should be okay for a final but the apparatus will be tough but we’ll see what happens,” he added.

“I think as long as the team is looking okay then we will be fine because that’s the main aim and if we can make the team final we will enjoy that.

“We will enjoy the atmosphere of the crowd and see what happens. It will be nice to relax a bit now.”

l SSE’s Next Generation programme partners with SportsAid to provide financial support and training to the sports stars of the future. Keep up to date with the latest @SSENextGen