October 15 - Daniel Keatings (pictured) made history tonight as he claimed Britain's first all-around medal at the Gymnastics World Championships with a stunning silver at London's O2 Arena.


The Olympic finalist had qualified in fourth for the final but his superb display saw him finish second with 88.925 points.
 

Japan's Kohei Uchimura stormed the field to win gold with 91.500, while Russian Yury Ryazanov took bronze.
 

The Olympic silver medallist produced a performance of ruthless consistency to finish a massive 2.575 points ahead of Keatings.

 

The 20-year-old's error-free display saw him go one better than he did in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where he finished second behind China's Yang Wei, who has since retired from the sport.
 

Keatings, a 19-year-old from Northamptonshire made a nervy start in his opening event on the floor and was twice penalised for stepping outside the area, but he bounced back on the pommel horse to move into contention.
 

The European silver medallist was second overall behind Uchimura heading into the final event on the high bars and he held his nerve, scoring 14.475 to claim second in front of an ecstatic home crowd.
 

Keatings said: "I came here hoping to make the final.

 

"A silver medal is a dream come true.

 

"Starting off on the floor it wasn't such a great performance and then I pulled myself together and came through the next five apparatus."

 

Wolverhampton's Kristian Thomas completed an impressive evening for the British team with a top-10 finish as he scored 87.350 for sixth.

 

The O2 Arena will also be the venue for the sport at the London Olympics and Keatings wants to keep improving over the next three years.

 

He said: "I'm going to try to push my routines even further to see where I can get them to, and try to compete with Uchimura (pictured) and the top gymnasts."

 

The teenager trains alongside Olympic bronze medallist Louis Smith at the Huntingdon Club in Cambridgeshire and he praised the influence of his team-mate.

 

He said: "Working alongside Louis, being the Olympic medallist, has pushed me.

 

"Not only just on the pommel horse but everything else.

 

"I am so proud of Kristian [Thomas] as well, we're sharing a room and we both nervous when we woke up this morning.

 

"We both didn't get the best of sleep."

 

Thomas, also 19, had qualified with the ninth highest score and showed few nerves as he rounded off the final with a brilliant 15.000 on the floor to see him jump to sixth.

 

He said: "I'm ecstatic.

 

"I can't even really explain how good a feeling that is.

 

"It's definitely better [than I expected].

 

"I just did the routines as best I could.

 

"I'm happy with floor because I fell in qualifying but I managed to go through a clean routine so that's all I could ask for.

 

"[Keatings' medal] is a massive, massive achievement.

 

"One of the best in the history of British gymnastics, an all-around medal which British gymnasts haven't won before.

 

"It's a credit to him and his coach - very well deserved."

 

 

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