Rowing called off for day

Thunderstorms over the Shunyi Olympic rowing venue have led to the cancellation of today’s programme, forcing three British crews to wait 24 hours to compete in their semi-finals.

Helen Casey and Hester Goodsell were due to race in the lightweight women’s double sculls semi-final, with the lightweight men’s double sculls and lightweight men’s four to follow.

But competition was delayed twice after Shunyi was hit by torrential rain, thunder and lightning before officials called off racing for the day at 15.30 local time (8.30am Irish time).

The full programme is set to be run tomorrow, which was originally slated as a rest day.