Old Lyme rower wins gold in the men's four at Paris Olympics

Old Lyme's Liam Corrigan is an Olympic gold medalist, placing first with his team in the men's four rowing competition in Paris.

Corrigan and his crew, Michael Grady, Justin Best, and Nick Mead, led wire to wire in the event Thursday.

They pulled to first from the start and were in a close battle with the boat from New Zealand through the entire race. At one point, the New Zealand crew pulled even with the Americans, but Corrigan and his team found the strength to pull ahead.

The U.S. boat crossed the finish line first with a time of 5:49:03, eighth-tenths of a second ahead of the Kiwis.

It is the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. in the men's four since 1960.

“What I’m about to say will sound like a cliché, but it literally felt like a dream,” Corrigan said right after winning the gold medal.

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“Like I literally didn’t quite believe that that was happening,” he said. “You know, I thought maybe I’d have some insane celebration, start jumping, but it was just utter disbelief.”

Corrigan grew up in Old Lyme and rowed with the Old Lyme Rowing Association Blood Street Sculls and Lyme/Old Lyme High School.

He is a Harvard University graduate who also earned a master’s degree in financial economics at Oxford University in 2022.

He also competed in the Tokyo Games in 2021.