Wednesday October 21st 2026
Archie Goodburn competes for Team Scotland during the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games 9mage credit: Jeff Holmes/TeamScotland)
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Edinburgh-born swimmer Archie Goodburn will deliver the match ball for Scotland’s Nations Championship clash with Australia next month, using the occasion to raise awareness and funds for brain cancer research.
The 25-year-old Scottish 50m breaststroke record holder and Commonwealth Games swimmer will be guest of honour at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on Sunday, November 15.
Supporters will have the opportunity to donate to Brain Tumour Research and the Astro Brain Tumour Fund, two charities working to improve treatment and support research into brain tumours.
Goodburn, who was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour in 2024, has campaigned for greater investment in brain cancer research and treatment, raising the issue with Prime Minister Andy Burnham and First Minister John Swinney in recent weeks.
He said: “This means the absolute world to me. The most people I have ever ‘performed’ in front of before, was an audience of 10,000 on the Castle esplanade for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
“I was 12 and I sang a solo – *What a wonderful world*! So, this is an incredible opportunity to deliver the match ball in front of 60,000 plus people.
“Some amazing people have done this job for many other good causes. This cause is so important to my heart.
“Brain cancer is the biggest cancer killer of those aged under-40 in the UK and, for some 25 years, it has received less than 2% of the national cancer budget.
“Things are beginning to move, and this kind of initiative can make a difference.”
A former pupil of Stewart’s Melville College, Goodburn initially played rugby as a blindside flanker before focusing on swimming, which he began at the age of eight with Edinburgh’s Warrender Baths Club.
He won bronze in the 50m breaststroke at the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships in Budapest before taking gold in the same event at the 2023 British Swimming Championships.
In December 2023, he claimed another bronze medal as part of Britain’s 4x50m medley relay team at the European Short Course Swimming Championships, where he also broke the Scottish record in the 50m breaststroke.
His swimming career was interrupted in 2024 when he was diagnosed with an oligodendroglioma, a rare type of brain tumour, and underwent surgery.
Around eight months later, he returned to the pool and set a personal best by one-hundredth of a second while competing for Great Britain at the world championships.
Goodburn said: “I think swimming was an escape for me from the cancer.
“My target growing up was always to represent GB at the world championships or Olympics. That’s what I would always have written down as a kid, so I was really chuffed when I set a new PB at the world championships.”
His determination has extended beyond swimming. Six weeks after surgery, despite admitting he is not a keen runner, he mapped out a marathon-distance route from Edinburgh to North Berwick and completed it as part of his response to his diagnosis.
He has represented Scotland at two Commonwealth Games, competing in Birmingham in 2022 and Glasgow in 2026, where he returned following another personal best.
Alongside managing his condition and continuing to train internationally, Goodburn graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a first-class undergraduate master’s degree in chemical engineering.
Following his diagnosis, he chose to research a nanoparticle-based method of delivering drugs to treat brain cancer for his master’s thesis. He was also awarded the university’s Principal’s Medal in 2024 and was one of six UK finalists in a Young Engineers Award for Innovation and Sustainability, recognised for his work on clean energy and climate action.
He added: “I don’t need any kick up the backside to appreciate the small things in life. I just hate it (the cancer). It probably does fuel things a little bit for me.”
Now working in London, Goodburn will return to Scotland next month, visiting his 96-year-old grandmother Mollie Gordon in the north-east before attending the match in Edinburgh.
His family and girlfriend, fellow Team Scotland swimmer and silver medallist Ciara Schlosshan, will join him at Murrayfield.
Tickets for Scotland’s match against Australia on November 15 are available through the Scottish Rugby ticketing website.
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