Australian Olympic medallists Steve Hooker and Sally McLellan have had timely victories at the London Grand Prix athletics meet.

Less than a month before the world championships in Berlin, McLellan won the 100m hurdles and - while he did not jump as high as he would have liked - Olympic pole vault champion Hooker comfortably won his event at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

McLellan, the Olympic silver medallist, had a trademark fast start and was well ahead through the first half of the race running into a headwind before clinching a narrow victory.

Her time of 12.65 seconds was just one hundredth of a second ahead of Canada's Perdita Felician. Lolo Jones of the United States was third in 12.71.

"It was very close," McLellan said. "I was tiring towards the end and I am glad I held on. I could feel them coming up really fast on my outside.

"I'm really pleased with the time as I could feel the wind in my face on the blocks."

Hooker won his event with an easy clearance of 5.70m on his first attempt. American Derek Miles was second after clearing the same height on his third try, while Sweden's Alhaji Jeng was third (5.55m).

Hooker, whose outdoor personal best is 6.00m, described his victory as bitter-sweet after he struggled with the bar at 5.84m in a swirling breeze and failed on all three attempts.

"I was hoping to jump higher today," Hooker said. "At my earlier heights I was well clear. I just couldn't put it together at 5.84m.

"I've got a few things to work on before Berlin and hopefully I will be alright by then. My confidence is growing."

The world championships run from August 15-23.

Australia's Kim Mickle was third in the women's javelin with a best throw of 59.67m. German Steffi Nerius won with 64.64m ahead of Britain's Goldie Sayers (59.82m). Sean Wroe finished fourth in the men's 400m.

The Australian clocked 45.63 seconds behind British winner Michael Bingham, who ran a personal best 45.03. Americans Angelo Taylor (45.15) and Jamaal Torrance (45.56) were second and third respectively.

Fabrice Lapierre was the best-placed Australian in the men's long jump in fourth with a leap of 8.00m. Dwight Phillips won with 8.33m ahead of British pair Christopher Tomlinson (8.21m) and Greg Rutherford (8.06m).

Mitchell Watt failed to reproduce the form that has seen him set five personal bests in 2009. He finished sixth with 7.96m, well below his best of 8.43m set in Crete last week, while fellow Australian Henry Frayne was one spot behind him with 7.61m.

Valkerie Baynes
AAP