SHE was the first woman ever to carry Scotland’s flag at the opening ceremony of a Commonwealth Games and yesterday Eilidh Doyle led the way on a day when all Team Scotland’s medals on the Gold Coast were won by women.

Scotland now has a haul of 35 medals – its second-highest total at any Games – and at least two more are to come in boxing, while Alex “Tattie” Marshall could win a gold medal in the Bowls Men’s Fours if they beat Australia in today’s final.

Doyle repeated her silver medal success of Glasgow 2014 and Delhi 2010 with a superb run in the Women’s 400m Hurdles Final, finishing second in 54.80 behind the hot favourite Janieve Russell of Jamaica.

The Scot was already her country’s most decorated track and field athlete. At 31 she is running out of medal opportunities, though she should be in Scotland’s 4 x 400m relay team on Saturday.

Doyle said: “That medal meant so much as I knew this would be the hardest games to win a medal.

“I’ve been lucky to win a number of medals in my career and they mean a lot to me – I will treasure them for the rest of my life. There won’t be too much celebrating of this one at the moment though, because we have the 4 x 400m Relay still to come.”

Stewart Harris, sportscotland chief executive, said: “Congratulations to Eilidh on winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games. Eilidh has been a wonderful ambassador for Scottish sport throughout what has been a stellar career; it is terrific to see her once again triumph on the world stage.

“She was a fully deserving flag bearer for Team Scotland for these Games, and to medal for the third successive Commonwealth Games shows how dedicated she has been to her sport.”

The female success was across the board. At the Broadbeach Bowls Club, the Women’s Triples – Caroline Brown, Kay Moran and Stacey McDougall – claimed a silver medal after a hard-fought match against Australia.

Mike Whittingham, sportscotland director of high performance, said: “Congratulations to Caroline, Kay and Stacey on winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games. Winning a medal at this level of sport is testament to the dedication they have shown in preparing for the Games.

“It is fantastic that Team Scotland’s bowlers have managed to build on the great results at Glasgow 2014, and the performances in Gold Coast will help to continue that legacy of success in the sport.”

Earlier in the day, Seonaid McIntosh followed in the footsteps of her mother Shirley, and sister Jen, by winning Shooting bronze in the Women’s 50m Rifle Prone.

Elsewhere, Team Scotland’s Netballers repeated their ninth-place finish from Glasgow 2014 with a 50-48 win over Barbados in overtime, while Kirsty Gilmour progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women’s Singles Badminton competition with a confident 2-0 victory over the English No 1, Chloe Birch.

The biggest disappointment of the day was Lynsey Sharp’s failure to make the final of the 800m, the event in which she won silver in Glasgow. She was run out of it in her heat, finishing fourth in a time that was too slow to see her qualify as a fastest loser.

It wasn’t all a case of girl power but it was so near yet so far for middle-distance man Jake Wightman who finished an agonising fourth in the Men’s 800m Final, just outside his personal best with a 1.45.82 run.