Rowing: Lake conditions labelled unfair

Several crews struggled with Lake Karapiro's choppy conditions on Friday. Photo / Getty Images

Great Britain rowing crews called the conditions at Lake Karapiro on Friday "unfair", according to media reports.

The British clinched two clinched two more gold medals at the world rowing championships in New Zealand yesterday in what Eleanor Crooks, writing in The Independent newspaper, called "extremely tough conditions" that were criticised as "unfair" by a number of the team.

The lake was affected by strong-ish winds which caused some chop on Friday.

But Britain's Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter added the world title to their Olympic gold from Beijing in the lightweight double sculls, while the new-look women's quadruple scull also topped the podium.

However the men's four, who were defending the title they won in Poznan last year, and the women's lightweight double sculls, both failed to pick up a medal despite going into their finals among the favourites for gold.

A jubilant Hunter said: "To be Olympic champion and not a world champion, there was a little hole there that's been filled now."

However, the world's most decorated rowing Olympian, Sir Steven Redgrave, writing in the Daily Telegraph, made no mention of the conditions, saying: "I can't remember when we've ever had such a good world championships, qualified in nearly every event, it's amazing.

"We've never had a team like this, so successful, with 19 of our 20 crews through to finals. It's odd, this is almost East German-like.

"Why are we so dominant, that every finalist we've got, apart from the men's quad and women's pair, have chances of medals?

"The lightweight men's four looked so cool and relaxed in their semifinal that it's difficult to mention other countries as being in the race," he wrote.

"Both those crews just look class acts. And it's good as a Brit who raced for my country so many times, to see so many opportunities for medals."