King of the rings Courtney Tulloch laid down the gauntlet to his rivals as he aims to back up team bronze with individual success at the World Championships.

The Maidstone gymnast produced a crucial rings routine in the men’s team final, steadying the home nation’s ship after it had been rocked by two disastrous falls on pommel horse.

Tulloch’s performance proved the turning point as the GB squad battled back for bronze and he hopes to take that momentum into Saturday’s apparatus final.

“This takes the pressure off massively,” said Tulloch. “I can just go into that rings final with nothing to lose now and I feel like that makes me very dangerous in that final.

"I always back myself. It wasn’t too bad, I want to score higher in the final.

“We have the biggest team in this competition, no one else has that crowd behind them. To have that going through every strength skill, when I’m getting that little bit tired in the handstand, the cheering is going to give me everything I need to stick that dismount.”

Pressure seems to make a diamond out of Tulloch, who followed up with a big score on vault to spark home hopes of doing the impossible.

The 27-year-old then watched on as team-mate Joe Fraser buried his mistake on pommel with outstanding routines on parallel bars and high bar.

As Britain were surging, rivals Italy fell on the pommel to pave the way to the podium and Tulloch insisted he always believed they would pull off a miracle on Merseyside.

“I just wanted to show character and leadership, show through my rings routine that we’re still in it, we can still fight,” he added.

“I went in there with that mentality. To be eighth after three pieces is devastating but we have that never-say-die attitude and never give up.

“To come away with a bronze medal, I’m just in shock. From being heartbroken to over the moon.

“On p-bar, I was looking and thought we’re still actually in this. I just wanted to remind these guys just don’t give up, everyone has got to go to pommel.

“It was just remembering that and keeping everyone firing and bubbly because I just knew they were going to go through and they did.”

The brilliant bronze capped an electric opening two days of finals for the hosts after the women’s team took silver behind only USA on Tuesday.

It means Great Britain are the only nation to take Olympic quota places in both men’s and women’s competition, meaning 10 gymnasts will go to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Giarnni Regini-Moran is also in the fight for solo success.

The Gravesend star will compete for medals on floor and parallel bars on Saturday and Sunday after excelling during the team final.

His parallel bar routine was piled with pressure, as Great Britain had no room for error in their bid for bronze, but the 24-year-old produced a stunning routine and hailed team spirit as the key to the comeback.

“We come together and we’re there for each other, regardless of what happens,” he said

“There were mistakes today from everyone but we’re a team, we’re like family, we’re brothers.

“We could have quite easily zoned out and thought this is over, we’re done, but we stuck by each other and pushed each other.

“The fact that we didn’t give up goes to show, not just to gymnasts but people around the world, that no matter where you are, fight to the end.

“Don’t give up. Look at the result, we ended up with a bronze medal. I can’t believe it, I’m in shock.”

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