Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - 9:01 AM

Australian Sally McLellan's surprise Olympic silver medal in the women's 100 metres hurdles last night came as American Lolo Jones lost control and "crashed and burned", giving the gold medal to compatriot Dawn Harper.

McLellan, the youngest runner in the field at 21, got off to a blistering start and held on in the dying stages to narrowly claim second in a time of 12.64, 0.1 behind the winner.

McLellan admitted that she had not believed her own prediction that she would win a medal.

"I lied to you," the 21-year-old said after a photo finish separated her from bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep.

"In my heart I didn't think I'd medal. But then I did."

Athletics Australia's high performance manager Max Binnington says McLellan's win provides a much-needed Olympic success and will have a positive impact on the sport.

"I think once Nathan Deakes and Jana Rawlinson had gone, I think the pressure was off the medals a bit, but we've always had a youth policy," he said.

"We are in a rebuilding phase and this is really icing on the cake.

"She's progressed very quickly and I think gone way ahead of where I think even she expected to be.

"Twelve months ago I don't think she'd be dreaming of it. Well, she might have been dreaming of it, but that's all it would have been."

Jones, 26, who used her athletic and academic prowess to get her out of poverty and was favourite to win the race, finished seventh after hitting the penultimate hurdle.

"You hit a hurdle about twice a year where it affects your race," Jones said, tears welling up in her eyes. "It's just a shame that it was on the biggest race of my life.

"The hurdles were just coming up very fast and I just told myself what I always tell myself, 'Keep things tight'.

"But it's kind of like when you are racing a car and going max velocity and you hit a curve, either you can maintain control or you can crash and burn. Today I crashed and burned."

Harper admitted she was a surprise winner.

"You have certain people that are supposed to be the favourites," she said. "On this particular day, and at this time, you have to run your best race.

"It's anyone's race ... we do hurdles, and they come at you really fast. You have to execute your race."

Jones remained kneeling on the track for a long time after the race.

"It was difficult to get back up," Jones said. "Tonight will be hard, tomorrow will be hard. I just have to get myself back up."