Archie Goodburn Wins 50m Breaststroke In Edinburgh, Days After Revealing Brain Tumour Diagnosis
Archie Goodburn claimed the 50m breaststroke title at the Scottish National Open Swimming Championships days after revealing he had been diagnosed with brain tumours.
Goodburn, who won the British one-length title in 2023, was given a huge ovation from the crowd at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh before taking to the water for victory in 28.13 ahead of Alex Meijer and Rafe Dobson.
Goodburn said through Scottish Swimming:
“We said just now it’s about racing the race.
“It was about racing the race for me tonight. I’m here to just kind of enjoy myself at the moment.
“Addressing the elephant in the room, I’m now about six weeks post-surgery, so to get in the pool and perform a consistent race twice over, not too bad and so I’m happy with that today.
“A lot of mistakes but my head’s a busy place at the moment so we’ll take it.”
Talking about the support he has received, the 23-year-old added:
“I mean you talk about teammates and friends but I think we described it as a family and it really has been.
“I’ve been completely overwhelmed by supportive messages, it’s been brilliant, so thanks to everyone.”
Kara Hanlon won the women’s 50 breaststroke in 30.96 ahead of Anna Morgan and Katie Goodburn.
David Cumberlidge claimed a 22.18 victory in the 50 free to bring his career to a close.
Cumberlidge won 4×1 free silver with England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and went 21.97 to win the 2019 Summer Universiade title.
At the time he was the fourth-fastest Briton over one length and ends his career seventh all-time.
Stirling teammates Keanna Macinnes and Lucy Grieve went head-to-head in the 100 fly.
Turning first at the 50, Macinnes looked composed, but Grieve was on her shoulder the whole final lap, pushing Keanna to 58.01, just outside her Scottish Record.
Grieve touched in 58.78 with Ciara Schlosshan third on 1:00.51.
Macinnes said:
“I’m really, really surprised with that. My boyfriend [Angus Allison] swam a 58.1 100 fly this morning and he said, ‘do you think you can go faster than that tonight?’ and I thought it wasn’t very likely, so I’m sure he’ll be a bit gutted about that!
“I definitely found that having Lucy next to me in the race pushed me on and there really is a friendly competitiveness there – Brad [Hay] is always joking around with it and it really pushes us both.
“I’m usually faster to 50 than Lucy but she catches up really strong so I knew I had to hold her off – I can’t believe how well that swim went to be fair!”
Next up for Macinnes is Paris:
“I pulled out of the 200 fly this weekend as I’m pretty content with how it’s looking going into Paris, but I knew that the 100 needed that extra bit of work and I think I’ve managed to execute that going into the Games.”
Katie Shanahan held off University of Stirling training mate Holly McGill in the 200m backstroke to take gold in 2:08.86 to 2:09.74.
Jamie Robertson (University of Stirling) won the 100 fly in 53.17 while Michaella Glenister added 400 gold to her 800 bronze.