This weekend, 117 University of Edinburgh athletes competed across six disciplines at the 2025 BUCS Nationals held in Sheffield. With students competing in Athletics, Badminton, Climbing, Fencing, Karate, and Swimming, the university's athletes demonstrated exceptional skill, determination, and sportsmanship. In Athletics, eight competitors made it through to their respective finals. Day one concluded with Alyson Bell winning silver in the 60m final, running a personal best time of 7.30seconds. On Sunday two more medals were secured, Andrew McFarlane winning silver in the Pole Vault (4.73m) and Stephen Mackenzie bringing home gold in the long jump, jumping a new championship record of 7.85m. In Badminton, Edinburgh's representatives delivered commendable performances. Six doubles pairs and Benedict Tan in the singles made it through all four qualification rounds and into the main draw. Three doubles pairs, Jane and Jun (Women’s Doubles), Jane and Torben (Mixed Doubles) and Torben and Richard (Men’s Doubles) made it into the last 16, a great achievement for the club. The climbing team had 30 routes to complete at their event, in a very competitive field we saw success with both Daniel Smith and Emilia Callanan making the finals with Emilia securing bronze. The women’s team also took home the bronze medal. The Fencers demonstrated finesse and precision in their bouts finishing the weekend we three medals. Isaac McKerr won bronze in the Men’s Epee on Friday, losing to the overall winner in the semi-finals. On Saturday Zoë Wagstaff, in her first BUCS competition, finished in silver place in the Women’s Foil, losing out on the gold by one point. This was followed by Quentin Geoffroy, turning last year's silver medal into a gold in the Men’s Sabre final. In Karate, the university's athletes dominated in the Men’s Kumite discipline winning two gold and two bronze medals. Antoine Pinardin won gold for the fifth consecutive year in the Senior Kumite +84kg and Joey Cochrane picked up bronze in the same category. The second gold came from current European U21 champion, Adam Hamill, in the –67kg category. The final medal was a bronze in the Men’s Team Kumite where teammates Ciaran Buckley and Titaan de Wit competed alongside Adam, Antoine and Joey. The Women’s team also had a successful weekend with Leigh Gausi winning Women’s Intermediate Kata gold and Anna Dabrowska winning Women’s Novice Kumite (-57kg category). Edinburgh's swimmers left their mark in the pool, earning eight medals, one gold, four silver and three bronze. Ciara Schlosshan had a standout performance winning three of the eight medals in the 50m butterfly (silver), 100m butterfly (silver) and 200m butterfly (bronze), achieving two personal best times in the process. Archie Goodburn defended his 50m breaststroke gold medal as well as winning silver in the 100m breaststroke. Two of the remaining medals were won by Laura Pilkington competing in the Women’s Para 100m breaststroke (silver) and 50m freestyle (bronze). Finally, to wrap up the swimming medals, Brodie Gordon-Gibson won bronze in the men’s 100m butterfly. Full Medal Results Sport Discipline Athlete Medal Athletics Women’s 60m Alyson Bell Silver Athletics Men’s Pole Vault Andrew McFarlane Silver Athletics Men’s Long Jump Stephen Mckenzie Gold (Championship Record) Climbing Women’s Emilia Callanan Bronze Climbing Women’s Team Emilia Callanan, Rhona Wilson, Connie Rawlins Bronze Fencing Women’s Foil Zoë Wagstaff Silver Fencing Men’s Epee Isaac McKerr Bronze Fencing Men’s Sabre Quentin Geoffroy Gold Karate Men’s Senior Kumite -67kg Adam Hamill Gold Karate Men’s Senior Kumite +84kg Antoine Pinardin Gold Karate Men’s Senior Kumite +84kg Joey Cochrane Bronze Karate Men’s Team Kumite Antoine Pinardin, Adam Hamill, Joey Cochrane, Ciaran Buckley and Titaan de Wit Bronze Karate Women’s Intermediate Kata Leigh Gausi Gold Karate Women’s Novice Kumite - 57kg Anna Dabrowska Gold Swimming Men’s 50m Breaststroke Archie Goodburn Gold Swimming Men’s 100m Breaststroke Archie Goodburn Silver Swimming Women’s 50m Butterfly Ciara Schlosshan Silver Swimming Women’s 100m Butterfly Ciara Schlosshan Silver Swimming Women’s 200m Butterfly Ciara Schlosshan Bronze Swimming Men’s 100m Butterfly Brodie Gordon-Gibson Bronze Swimming Women’s Para 50m Freestyle Laura Pilkington Bronze This article was published on 2025-02-17
