A SINGLE race does not a summer make. A May evening in the Qatari desert bears little resemblance to the aura of August in Brazil. However Eilidh Doyle will take an abundance of hope from securing a superb start to her Olympic campaign last night, powering to victory in the opening Diamond League meeting of 2016 in Doha in a manner that suggests her winter’s labours have not been in vain.

The 29-year-old’s time of 54.53 seconds was the quickest seasonal debut of her career, fast enough to land top spot in the nascent world rankings. Of greater import was that a quality field was cast adrift with the Scot over a second clear of Burundi’s Kemi Adekoya with Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer, the Commonwealth gold medallist, third and in-form compatriot Meghan Beesley sixth.

“I was very happy with the race,” the European champion declared. “My training worked very well although my reaction was a bit slow at the start. Obviously, my focus is on Rio. I will just have to try harder and harder.”

Doyle will travel onward to Tenerife for a further fortnight of fine-tuning under the watch of her coach Malcolm Arnold, before further Diamond League outings in Rome and Birmingham ahead of the UK Olympic trials. If the past six months have been designed to obtain the level of comfort in her hurdling technique that was often absent last year, then this performance hinted the Scot has regained the ease of two summers ago as she looks towards Rio.

“In 2014, I had a stride pattern I did all the time,” she said. “It was solid. Last year, I went faster so I had to make tweaks but I wasn’t confident in it. Malcolm likes to insist you need to try it for a few races before you really feel like you’re executing it. You need to take risks. You need to be more daring. You can’t worry if things don’t go right. Just be confident it will work rather than going back to the safe option of what you did before.”

Eilish McColgan is also making promising strides forward as she transitions from the steeplechase to the flat. The Dundonian secured a second personal best in six days in coming 10th in the 3000m in 8:43.27 as Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana surged majestically clear of the field.

McColgan will remain in Doha for a spell of tuition from her mother and coach Liz Lynch. The Olympics have again become an obtainable target. “At the start of the year, I had no real goals,” she said. “I didn’t know what would happen even if I had Rio there. I didn’t know what route I would take to get there. But the last three weeks of training have pushed me on to believe I could qualify.”

Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz survived two early failures to finish fourth in the high jump behind American rival Erik Kynard while the USA’s Tori Bowie held off European number one Dafne Schippers in the 100m in a world lead of 10.80 seconds.

While South Africa’s Caster Semenya landed her first Diamond League win since 2011 in the 800m with British duo Shelayna Oskan-Clarke and Adelle Tracey fifth and eighth respectively.

– Tewolde Mengisteab wants to follow in the footsteps of fellow Eritrean-born Scot Tsegai Tewelde by making an international mark in the colours of his adopted country. The Shettleston Harriers veteran, who joined Olympic-bound Tewelde in seeking asylum here eight years ago, will race for Scotland in today’s Lillebaelt Half Marathon in Denmark.

It is a valuable test for Mengisteab who set his personal best of 65 minutes and 25 seconds in 2011 and he claims Tewelde’s success at the London Marathon has spurred him on.

“I am definitely not planning one any time soon,” he said. “But the half marathon is now the priority for me for this year and I hope to run a personal best in Denmark and get to around 64 or 65 minutes.”

Mengisteab will link up with Andy Douglas and Martin Williams in the men’s team while 44-year-old Hayley Haining joins Jenny Bannerman and Lesley Pirie in the women’s squad.