Jake turned despair to joy to help GB to a World Championship team bronze medal

Jake Jarman (second left) with the GB team and their bronze medals from the World Championships. Photo: Simone Ferraro

The hosts were bottom at the halfway stage and Peterborough man Jarman felt a stumble on his vault during the fourth rotation could have been the final nail in their coffin.

But inspired by Joe Fraser’s superb parallel bars routine, the British quintet recovered in style and it was left to Jarman to deliver the final performance on the horizontal bar.

Roared on by the home crowd, the 20-year-old held his nerve and secured a dramatic bronze at Italy’s expense, by extension securing Great Britain a quota place at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Jake Jarman at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool. Photo Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images.

“When I fell on my vault, it put me down a bit,” Jarman said. “I was quite disheartened as I thought I’d messed it up for the team.

“To watch the guys smash p-bars, then for us to go to high bar and the first two guys [James Hall and Joe Fraser] to do it clean – I saw it as an opportunity to redeem myself.

“Before my high bar routine, I was nervous. I talked to myself a lot, telling myself to calm down – I do the routines day in, day out in the gym.

“I just had to focus and calm down. The crowd definitely helped and gave me the extra energy I needed.

“Seeing us go from bottom to third place, I couldn’t believe it. Even seeing the scoreboard, it was hard to process at the time. It means the world to all of us.

“It [Olympic qualification] takes a huge amount of pressure off next year’s competitions, not needing to have to qualify a team. Doing it at this competition means the world to us.”

Jarman now switches his attentions to Friday evening’s individual all-around final, in which he and Fraser are waving the home flag.

Six golds across the Commonwealth Games and European Championships so far this year have made him a marked man, but Jarman is not letting himself feel any weight of expectation.

“Being amongst the best gymnasts in the world, I’m not expecting to medal,” Jarman added.

“There’s no pressure now, we did the main job, we have the team medal. Now I just want to have some fun.”

The World Gymnastics Championships Liverpool 2022 will be one of the largest international sporting events ever to be held in the city. Over 500 gymnasts from more than 70 countries will compete at the M&S Bank Arena from 29 October to 6 November 2022. Tickets are available at www.2022worldgymnastics.com/tickets.