Athletics: Bubka back on world record trail: GB record for Regis

SERGEI BUBKA broke the world pole vault record for the 17th time yesterday with a height of 6.14 metres at the annual international meeting in Sestriere, Italy, where there were encouraging performances from two of Britain's European gold medal prospects.

The 30-year-old Ukrainian, four times the world champion and the 1988 Olympic champion, set his last record of 6.13m two years ago in Tokyo. He managed only third place in the recent Goodwill Games in St Petersburg, but he was back at his best in the Alps yesterday, first climbing to 5.70m and then 5.90m before taking the world record at the first attempt.

Bubka celebrated with a lap of honour in a red Ferrari, worth pounds 80,000, the prize that has been on offer at Sestriere for the past five years for any athlete breaking a world record. Until yesterday it had gone unclaimed.

'The wind was good, blowing in the proper direction,' he said. 'The track was perfect and altitude possibly helped. If I can reach the same form of 1991, I could climb as high as 6.20 and even 6.30. I have improved my technique, capitalising on errors of the last two years.'

Bubka will not, though, be competing in Helsinki next week. 'For me it's better to pass up on the European Championships,' he said. 'Mentally it's difficult with all the pressure of having to win every event I'm in, small or big.'

John Regis, the European 200 metres champion, set a British record of 19.87sec in beating the world champion, Namibia's Frankie Fredericks. It was the fastest run by any European, other than Pietro Mennea's world record of 19.72.

Colin Jackson, meanwhile, ran to within three-hundredths of a second of his world record in winning the 110m hurdles in 12.94, albeit wind-assisted.

The wind erased another notable performance from the record books, Mike Powell leaping 8.95m in the long jump, equalling the world record he set to win the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. But as in Tokyo, Powell finished ahead of the triple Olympic champion, Carl Lewis, who jumped 8.72.

In the men's 100m, the American world record holder, Leroy Burrell, held off his compatriot Jon Drummond by a hundreth of a second to win in 10.00.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee beat Germany's Heike Drechsler in the women's long jump, but fell three centimetres short of Galina Chistiakova's world record of 7.52.

Derrick Adkins, the 24-year-old American champion, won the 400m hurdles, his 10th consecutive win; and another American, Derek Mills, who had beaten Du'Aine Ladejo and Roger Black into second and third at Crystal Palace recently, took the 400m in 44.59.

Paul Evans, the 10,000m runner left out of Great Britain's squad for next week's European Championships, enjoyed a fine victory in yesterday's BUPA Great Welsh Run in Cardiff. Evans clocked a personal best 28min 23sec over the twisting 10km course, finishing two seconds ahead of the World Cup marathon champion, Richard Nerurkar, with Julius Koech of Kenya third in 28:35.

Evans said afterwards: 'I came here to prove a point to both myself and the selectors. I let my legs do the talking. I am shattered that I am not going to the European Championships.' Marian Sutton also set a personal best, winning the women's race in 32:55.

----------------------------------------------------------------- BUBKA'S WORLD RECORD DECADE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Date Height 26.5.84. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.85m 2.6.84. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.88 13.7.84. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.90 31.8.84. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.94 13.7.85. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00 8.7.86. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.01 23.6.87. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.03 9.6.88. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.05 10.7.88. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.06 6.5.91. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.07 9.6.91. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.08 8.7.91. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.09 5.8.91. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.10 13.6.92. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.11 30.8.92. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.12 19.9.92. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.13 31.07.94. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.14 -----------------------------------------------------------------