NO Scottish youngster has ever been born to run as she was.

Eilish McColgan took another step towards fulfilling her destiny at Hampden Park last night, although in a sense we have been monitoring the progress of this 23-year-old since the womb. Her famous mother Liz won a world cross country bronze medal just weeks after giving birth to her oldest child so there was perhaps little chance of McColgan being able to develop unnoticed.

It has been wise, then, to opt to run a different distance to that of her mother, thereby reducing, in part at least, direct comparisons between them. However, for all that there is so much in that gait and those sharp-looking elbows that is so evocative of watching her mother pound the streets of Dundee, as well as the world's greatest tracks.

Yet while the young McColgan may not have had the same hurdles to overcome in terms of her background as Liz famously did, it seems somehow fitting that she made it as hard for herself as she could by opting for a discipline which involves hefty barriers being put in her way.

It is, though, a different athletics world into which she has arrived and the extent to which the Kenyan men's domination that was being imposed on middle-distance running during her mother's career has now been extended to women's events was reinforced last night in the 3000 metres steeplechase. Purity Cherotich Kirui claimed gold in a time of nine minutes 30.96 seconds with her compatriots Milcah Chemos Cheywa and Joan Kipkemo making it a clean sweep.

Australians Madeline Heiner and Genevieve Lacaze got closest to them and then, in spite of having suffering a season ravaged by illness and injury, the McColgan spirit came through as she finished as the first of the British quintet, with another Australian also in her wake.

McColgan acknowledged that 28 years on since Liz surged into the public consciousness by winning Commonwealth gold in Edinburgh, this was a very special occasion for the family and one member of it, in particular.

"My mum, my dad, uncle, cousin, my three little brothers, my sister - and my gran, my mum's mum [were all here]," she said. "My gran [Betty Lynch] watched my mum at Meadowbank in '86 and she came here tonight. I don't think she's been in a stadium since '86.

"The fact that she was here tonight is special. I don't know how she could even see because she doesn't see very well - but I'm sure she heard it all.

"It was really special for her. My granddad always said to her that, if she ever got the chance, she should go and watch me run because he always told me I would make the Olympic games. Sadly he never made it to watch it. I think she was excited to be here, knowing he had told her it wasn't to be missed."

While gran would, of course, have simply been proud that McColgan was taking part, impressing mum is a tougher business. However, Eilish was confident that her effort would be deemed satisfactory.

'That's still the fastest I've run all year, slightly faster than the Diamond League event here. It's improving but I've run out of time," she said. "I think I was ranked seventh or eighth in the field so I've improved on that. I was going to find it very difficult to beat Kenyan girls who have run 9.20 this year.

"They are in a different class. For me, to place higher than my ranking is all my mum wanted me to do."

Next, though, is the matter of fulfilling her late granddad Martin's prophesy by giving the family another Olympian. That is something that better health and some work on her technique over those barriers can help her to achieve.

"I feel like, if I can run 9.44 with the preparations I've had, I definitely feel like next year will be a big change," said McColgan, who believes Barbara Parker's British record of 9.24 is within her range.

"I'm going to do a lot of work over the winter on the barriers. That will make a difference. This year, it was a series of unfortunate events. Next year has to be better."

McColgan was not alone in feeling the love emanating from the stands last night, however. Lennie Waite also revelled in the experience of performing at Hampden, despite finishing second to last in the 11-woman field.

"That was so unreal," she said excitedly. "It was just surreal. From walking out into the stadium to the 3000m start line I had a grin - I almost forgot what I was there to do. It was impossible to block it out and I didn't want to.

"I've never felt so loved in my life. It was really great. I've been to concerts before and people cheer for musicians and I've thought it would be awesome to experience that. Today I did."

Hammer-thrower Mark Dry's medal ceremony apart, there were no additions to the hosts' athletics medal tally last night and the only other Scottish women in action were Kirsty Yates and Alison Rodger in the shot put.

A personal best of 16.42 metres was enough for Yates to make the cut for the eight - albeit finishing last of those - while Rodger finished 10th in an event graced by one of the all-time field events greats, New Zealander Valerie Adams, the double Olympic and four-time world champion.

She claimed her third Commonwealth Games gold medal with more than a metre to spare over silver medallist Cleopatra Borel of Trinidad and Tobago and Canada's bronze medallist Julie Labonte after launching the missile 19.88m.