Harry Hepworth has competed in Olympic finals and knows the agony of fourth and the ecstasy of third but says nothing compares to trying to win gold for your team-mates in a major championship final.

That was the scenario that the Leeds Gymnastics Club member was presented with in Zagreb on Sunday night in the final apparatus of the team final at the European Championships.

Hepworth, 22, stepped onto the floor needing to nail his routine to clinch gold for Great Britain.

He had already won bronze in the individual floor competition earlier in the week, silver at the previous year’s world championship, and bronze in the vault at the Paris Olympics.

Full focus: Leeds gymnast Harry Hepworth of Team GB won a gold and a bronze at the European Championships (Picture: Getty Images)

placeholder image — Full focus: Leeds gymnast Harry Hepworth of Team GB won a gold and a bronze at the European Championships (Picture: Getty Images)

“But this was next level,” admitted Hepworth. “Probably the most pressure I’ve had on me in my career.

“I just wanted to do it for the team, we’d worked so hard throughout the whole competition, to get to the floor I didn’t want to blow it for anyone.”

Rest assured the Yorkshireman did not, and Great Britain finished the championships with team gold.

“I’m just glad that I smashed that routine and we won,” continued Hepworth. “We’ve been training for the last month or two, just absolutely smashing out these routines in the gym, so for it to all come together yesterday just showed how hard we had been working to be the best in Europe.

“It’s pretty special and we’re really happy.”

Earlier this summer Hepworth watched on as his Leeds Gymnastics Club team-mate Luke Whitehouse swelled his medal coffers with gold in the floor exercise and two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Now it was Hepworth’s turn. Earlier in the week at the European Championships in Croatia he went for the most difficulty-packed routine of the floor competition, powering through his huge tumbling skills to score 14.3 and earn the bronze medal.

Hepworth said: “I’m pretty happy, there’s always that sort of slight conflict after in your head saying maybe I could have done this better, but I’ve just got to accept it and work on it for next time. Overall I’m really happy, another major championships medal for the collection.”