Awards glory for Halifax gymnastics star Whitehouse
Olympic gymnast Luke Whitehouse scooped Sportsman of the Year at both the Leeds Beckett University Sports Awards and the prestigious Leeds Sports Awards on consecutive evenings.
The Halifax star has now won the Leeds Beckett University Sportsman of the Year award for the third time, a university record, having won it originally in 2022 and again in 2025 and now 2026.
The 23-year-old said: “To win is really special, joining world class athletes from Yorkshire, the Brownlee brothers, Tom Pidcock, Jack Laugher, to the likes of Josh Warrington, so it’s great company to be in amongst.”
Whitehouse delivered an exceptional and historic international season in 2025, building on a remarkable period of success that reflects not only his world class status, but his continued contribution to British gymnastics at the highest level.
In May 2025, he played a key role in helping the Great Britain men’s team secure European team gold in Leipzig, demonstrating his consistency and value across all facets of team competition at major championships.
He also achieved a historic personal milestone by winning the floor exercise title at the European Championships, becoming a back to back triple European champion with gold on floor in 2023, 2024, and 2025; the first British male gymnast ever to accomplish three consecutive European apparatus titles.
In the summer, Whitehouse’s excellence continued on the global stage at the World University Games, where he claimed floor exercise gold, marking a significant achievement for British gymnastics, becoming the first British male gymnast to win a medal at the Games since the competition’s inception in 1959.
This victory not only underscored his competitive breadth, but also brought further international recognition to his performances beyond the European circuit.
His 2025 season culminated at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta, where Whitehouse added yet another major honour by winning the silver medal on floor; his first World Championships medal and a standout result for both him and Leeds Gymnastics Club, marking the club’s first individual World Championships medal.
On the back of the 2025 success, Whitehouse has recently featured in a Commonwealth Games documentary, Generation Glasgow on their YouTube channel in preparation for the games.
Featuring home life, training and competition it gives a real insight to the life of an elite athlete.
The Halifax star hopes to compete at either the Commonwealth Games or the European Championships where he is defending champion. The Great Britain men will compete at only one of the events, due to the proximity of the events, just two weeks apart due to the risk of injury.
The Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, starts on July 23 and runs to August 2 while the European Championships, in Zagreb, Croatia, get under way on August 19.