Doyle seals a hat-trick of silver medals

SCOTLAND’S Eilidh Doyle (left) celebrated taking silver in the 400metre hurdles for the third consecutive Commonwealth Games yesterday. It took the nation’s medal tally in the Gold Coast to 35 — their second-best-ever haul — with three full days of competition remaining. A hat-trick of podium places yesterday saw the Scots even overtake the

1986 home Games in Edinburgh, when the hosts won 33 medals. Only the 53 won in Glasgow four years ago, when the inclusion of judo artificially inflated the total, stands above the team’s overall numbers on the Gold Coast. Doyle, 31, bagged her third straight silver medal over the 400m hurdles, emulating her achievements in Delhi in 2010 and, most famously, at Hampden in 2014. But she said yesterday’s run in front of 35,000 fans at the Carrara Stadium ranked higher than any in her Games career. The Olympic and World Championships relay medallist came from behind to overtake South African Wenda Nel and pinch second place behind Jamaica’s Janieve Russell. ‘It’s probably the strongest field I’ve ever raced against at a Commonwealth Games,’ said Doyle. ‘So I knew this would be the toughest shot at winning a medal. I was just so chuffed to get one. I know it’s a silver but I’m so proud of it. It means so much to me.’ Team Scotland’s other medals on day eight of these Games came in lawn bowls and shooting. The women’s triples team of Caroline Brown, Kay Moran and Stacey McDougall picked up a silver, losing to Australia in the final. Shooter Seonaid McIntosh, 22, won bronze in the women’s 50m rifle prone event, taking the McIntosh clan’s tally of Commonwealth Games medals — mum Shirley won four and sister Jen has five — to ten. McIntosh said: ‘I’m on the table now in terms of family medals. ‘Before coming to Australia, I’d been thinking about it a bit. Obviously, there are no pairs events and most of mum and Jen’s medals are in pairs events. But this is pretty cool.’ Meanwhile, the women’s hockey team beat Malaysia to finish in seventh place overall.