
The Olympic rowing regatta has once again been disrupted by strong winds in Rio, with the Wednesday schedule called off as a result of the conditions.

The abandonment is the second of the meeting, caused by gusts affecting the middle 1000m of the 2000m course, and will further increase the backlog of races which need to be completed.

Organisers and team officials are in discussions over a revised timetable of events for Thursday.

Organisers have decided to postpone the Olympic rowing regatta on Wednesday morning due to poor weather

The postponement is the second of the regatta after strong winds caused issues on day two of the competition

Rhys Grant of Australia carries his boat from the water after competition was suspended on Wednesday morning

WEDNESDAY'S CANCELLED ROWING SCHEDULE Women's pair: Semi-finals Lightweight women's double sculls: Semi-finals Lightweight men's double sculls: Semi-finals Men's four: Semi-finals Women's eight: Repechage Men's eight: Repechage Men's quad sculls: Finals Women's quad sculls: Final Men's single sculls: Semi-finals Women's single sculls: Semi-finals Women's pair: Final C Advertisement

World rowing confirmed the decision just after midday BST via social media.

A tweet from the governing body's official account read: 'Racing postponed. No racing today. A new schedule will be announced soon.'

Two finals were due to be contested on the water at Lagoa on Wednesday - the men's and women's quad sculls - with British interest in the former.

Now, however, the Team GB quartet of Jack Beaumont, Sam Townsend, Angus Groom and Peter Lambert will now have to wait to race for a medal.

Britain's top gold prospect - the men's four of Alex Gregory, Mo Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis - were primed to compete in a semi-final which also featured France, Canada, Germany, Netherlands and Belarus.

One of Britain's top medal hopes - the women's pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning - had also been due to race early in the schedule in a semi-final against Romania, South Africa, the USA, Poland and Italy.

A total of 22 races will now have to be rescheduled, meaning the regatta is set to become even more congested.

Sixteen races, including four finals, were originally supposed to take place on Thursday but the last four - the men's and women's lightweight double sculls minor finals - have already been moved as the qualifying rounds for that competition are yet to take place.

Great Britain's men's eight team rows along the lagoon at the Lagua Stadium following the cancellation of action

The boat of Serbian competitors Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik capsized on Saturday in choppy conditions

Choppy waters forced the boat of the Serbian pair to overturn and the rowers were rescued by organisers

On Sunday, t he crosswinds at Lagoa whipped up such treacherous waves over the mid-section of the course at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon that two boats capsized during early morning training runs, and after several delays the organisers called it off at 10.30am local time.

At last year's test event in Rio, the junior world championships, schedulers were forced to make an early call to cancel the last day and stage all the finals on the Saturday due to fears the lagoon would be unrowable.

After the first cancellation of a day's rowing, on Saturday, Britain's five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave warned the entire competition might not be completed.

He said: 'The worst case scenario is that there will not be any Olympic medals given out at this Games. So if you start at that doom and gloom view then anything better will be good.'

A pair of Lithuanian rowers contemplate the postponement of action at Lagua Stadium on Wednesday

Rowers assemble beside the water at the Rio lagoon following the confirmation of the postponement

THE LAST TIME ROWING EVENT WAS CANCELLED 1896: The last time the rowing competition was cancelled in its entirety was 120 years ago in 1896, at the first modern Olympics in Athens. Advertisement

Executive director of organisers FISA, Matt Smith, previously described the winds as 'dramatic' and unforeseen by local experts, and maintained that he expected conditions to calm down enough to complete the regatta on schedule this weekend.

'We've made some scenarios already to look at what it would mean if we lose tomorrow,' he said at a Tuesday press conference.

'For those who know FISA events, this is a small regatta, we have plenty of time up until Saturday noontime, even Sunday noontime, to get in racing.

'The long-term forecast is showing good weather on Friday and Saturday, similar to what we saw at the test event at the junior championships last year.'