Making Team USA: Men’s Four

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The U.S. men’s four has been on the rise, placing third at World Cup II in 2023, silver at the 2023 World Championships, and winning gold at World Cup II in 2024. The crew, composed of Liam Corrigan, Michael Grady, Justin Best, and Nick Mead, have their sights set on the podium in Paris after their World Championship finish qualified them for the Paris Olympics. 

The last time the U.S. men’s four stood on the podium was their bronze medal performance in 2012. Gold has alluded the men’s four since 1960. Corrigan, Grady, Best, and Mead have been finely tuning their speed together since last year’s world championships in the hopes of ending that drought. 

All four athletes competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Best, Mead and Corrigan narrowly missed medals in the eight at the 2020 Games, only two seconds off of gold and one second off of bronze. Grady raced in the four, finishing fifth overall. 

All four rowers have been competing with and against each other for over a decade, all of them having appeared on the under 19 team in their high school careers. Corrigan, Grady, Best, and Mead came together in 2023 with a focus on making a strong four from experienced Olympians. Earlier in the year, at World Cup II, they won gold by two seconds over second place New Zealand, beating out the 2023 World Champions from Great Britain. They’ve spent the past year putting in the work in the push towards the finish line in Paris, hopefully with their bow ball in front. 

Connecticut native, Liam Corrigan has a long history of stroking crews to victory. As a Freshman at Harvard, he stroked the second varsity eight to an undefeated season and a gold medal at the IRA Championships. He went on to stroke the varsity eight the following year and placed third at the IRA Championships in 2017 and 2019. 

Corrigan graduated from Harvard with a degree in physics and astrophysics. He returned to the classroom to study financial economics after the 2020 Olympics, receiving a masters from Oxford University in 2022 and winning the The Boat Race in 2022. As a child he made the Olympic village in legos. He will return to the village for the second time in Paris. 

Justin Best is a seven time national team member, entering the team as an under 19 rower and progressing through the under 23 and senior national teams. The Pittsburgh native began rowing at Newport Rowing Club. He won silver at the 2015 U19 World Championships in the men’s eight. He raced in the varsity eight at Drexel University for four years and graduated in 2019 with a degree in business and engineering. 

Best continued his success at the World Championships by winning silver in the u23 eight in 2019. He is known for his humor (ask him for an impression) and can be found creating a rowing meme in his spare time.

A Cornell graduate, Michael Grady has continued to improve his speed and skill as a rower after eight appearances on the national team. Grady grew up in Pittsburgh and began rowing at Central Catholic High School. He raced at the 2013 and 2014 U19 World Championships. He finally saw the top step in 2018 when he raced in the men’s u23 eight and won gold. 

At Cornell, Grady was a four-time varsity eight rower who graduated from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Grady can be found relaxing on a golf course, playing video games, or bee keeping. 

Nick Mead has made a lasting impact on the U.S. national team. His family has a long history of rowing, both his parents and brother rowed collegiately. His own rowing journey began at Episcopal High School. His first appearance on the U.S. national team was competing at the World Championships on the under 19 team in 2013. 

Mead’s humble and reserved demeanor won him Athlete of the Year in 2021 and in 2023, an honor selected by fellow national team members. Mead graduated from Princeton University in 2017 as captain of the rowing team, where he placed second in the second varsity in 2014 and bronze in the varsity eight in 2015 and 2016. Mead works in supply chain management while training for the Olympics. 

Cheer on the men’s four on Sunday, July 28, as they compete in their first race of the Olympic regatta. Heats 1 and 2 of the Men’s Four contest will be held on Sunday, July 28, at 12:50 and 1 p.m. Central European Summer Time (six hours ahead of ET). 

The crew will need to place top two in order to qualify for the final, otherwise they will race in the repechage. Finals are scheduled for Thursday, August 1.