Olympic rower posts gruesome pic of blistered hands after record-breaking Arctic expedition

British two-time Olympic rowing champion Alex Gregory posted a shocking picture of his blistered hands following the premature finish of his team’s expedition in the Arctic.

Gregory, who won two gold medals as part the British men's coxless fours team at both London 2012 and Rio 2016, was taking part in The Polar Row Arctic expedition in which his team has set 11 world records related to distance traveled and location.

The number of records is also an achievement in itself, as it surpassed the previous highest number of records by a man-powered rowing expedition.

They were originally set to break as many as 12 world records, but had to call off their bid due to safety fears.

“After around 7 days of tough seas and with failing power supplies we made the decision as a crew to head for the island of Jan Mayen in order to recover, recuperate and fix the technical issues we were having on board with the power supplies,” wrote Gregory on his Facebook page.

“My feet were extremely wet and cold, clothing damp, I was undernourished but to be quite honest in good spirits as we all were. I was hurting, I had been scared, I was worried about safety but I was happy,” he continued.

The 33-year-old rower also explained the decision was partly due to family reasons.

“My three young children need their dad, they need him to be responsible and to make the right decisions in life. They need him to be brave, adventurous, ambitious and to set them the right example, but they also need him to not take unnecessary risks.”

The photo of his blistered hands appeared on his social media account four days after the decision was announced to finish the expedition early.

“My hands after spending so long in wet gloves,” wrote Gregory on his Twitter.

“The blisters were never bad on this Polar row, but the wet & damp seeped into the skin…”

The Polar Row was a two-stage rowing crew Arctic expedition aiming to set a number of world records to raise funds to build a school in the Himalayas.