Disregard a hat-full of major medals and almost one million subscribers to his YouTube channel and Nile Wilson insists he is still the same star-struck teenager who headed to his first World Gymnastics Championships in China in 2014.

Wilson, now 22, will take his undimmed enthusiasm to Doha next month as part of a five-strong Great Britain men’s team which is aiming to secure an automatic qualification place for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

But there is much more on the line for the Leeds athlete, whose five medal haul at this year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games – including three golds – served to underline his status as one of the true rising stars of his sport.

Nile Wilson
Nile Wilson won three gold medals on the Gold Coast (Danny Lawson/PA)

With his social media status heading to similarly stratospheric levels, Wilson, who has recovered from the neck injury which ruled him out of last month’s European Championships in Glasgow, has come a long way in more ways than one.

But Wilson told Press Association Sport: “Nothing’s really changed – I’m still Nile, the lad from Leeds, and I’ll still get butterflies when I get on the plane in six weeks’ time.

“It would be very easy with the craziness of what’s happened in my life in the last 18 months, especially in the digital side with YouTube blowing up, to say that things have changed.

“But truthfully I’m still that 18-year-old lad. I smile my way through it all and I love every minute. People might expect more of me these days but the only pressure I feel is that I put on myself.”

Wilson is part of a Britain squad which has the incentive of knowing a podium finish in the team competition at the World Championshipswill automatically qualify their place in Tokyo.

Max Whitlock has the opportunity to turn the page on a disappointing year to date which has seen him miss out on pommel titles at both Gold Coast and Glasgow respectively.

Dominick Cunningham
New European floor champion Dom Cunningham is in the team for Doha (Jane Barlow/PA)

He is joined by Dom Cunningham, who rose to the occasion to win European floor gold in Glasgow, former European bronze medallist James Hall, and teenager Joe Fraser.

The women’s team, which is expected to include former European all-round champion Ellie Downie on her long-awaited comeback from injury, will be named at a later date.

GB performance director James Thomas said: “The World Championships in Doha represents the first opportunity to qualify a team place for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“The selected team for Doha gives us a blend of high calibre gymnasts who will support our ambition to challenge the world’s best in the team event whilst targeting medals on multiple apparatus.”