A record-setting performance gave Sergey Bubka of the Ukraine his first Millrose title with a vault clearing 19 feet, 2 1/4 inches at the 89th Millrose Games tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York. The leap broke the record shared by Olympic gold medalist Maksim Tarasov, who finished tied for second with Frenchman Jean Galfione. This is the first Millrose title for Bubka, a nine-time world champion who has won every other major world meet. "I don't know why I've been so unlucky here," said Bubka, whose world record of 20-2 1/4. "It's good to get this thing past me." Bubka's victory was sealed after Tarasov and Galfione missed at 19-8 1/4, the required height to beat Bubka. Defending champion Igor Trandenkov of Russia finished fifth. Ireland's Niall (NY-il) Bruton polished off countryman Marcus O'Sullivan with a time of just over four minutes for an easy victory in the Wanamaker Mile. Bruton took the lead with 2 1/2 laps to go in the 11-lap race and broke away from the pack to coast to victory in four minutes, 0.58 seconds. Bruton took a quick look over his shoulder with a half lap to go for O'Sullivan, who was busy holding off a charging Mateo Canellas of Spain for second. Bruton, who edged his Irish rival for the 1994 title, denied O'Sullivan his sixth Wanamaker Mile title. O'Sullivan has been hampered by a muscle injury which has not responded to treatment and his participation wasn't certain until race time. Ironically, Bruton ran with a sore neck he suffered in a car accident in Manhattan Wednesday afternoon. "I guess he (O'Sulllivan) was more hurt than I was," Bruton said. "I felt it was a little easier. I just tried to focus on the race. I don't think it (the accident) hindered me at all." "Winning here will make it hard for him to claim the insurance," quipped O'Sullivan. Earlier, Canadian Donovan Bailey exploded from the middle of the pack, edging countryman Bruny Surin in 6.56 seconds to win the men's 60 meters. Bailey, currently the world's top-ranked sprinter, defeated Surin for the second straight time, having bested his close friend in the 60 meters in Montreal on January 19th. Surin, who finished in 6.59 seconds, is the current indoor champion and ranked third in the world. Henry Neal, the two-time defending Millrose champion, was third in 6.63. "I'm very confident in my acceleration and my ability to relax in the beginning of a race," Bailey said. "I've never, ever run on wood before. It's a feeling I never had. This is different. It's fast." Courtney Hawkins won the men's 60-meter hurdles in 7.64 seconds, upsetting two-time Olympic champion Roger Kingdom. Allen Johnson, the defending champion, held the early lead before Hawkins exploded on the outside to register victory. Kingdom was second in 7.77 seconds, top-ranked hurdler Mark Crear was third and Johnson was fourth. "The biggest thing is that I finally won a Millrose," said Hawkins. "It's time I proved to others that I'm someone to worry about." United States Olympic champion Gwen Torrence cruised to victory in 7.02 seconds in the women's 60, narrowly missing the meet record of 7.0 seconds set by Gail Devers two years ago. This is Torrence's sixth Millrose title. Carlette Guidry was runner-up. "I'm working very hard on my start, which is everything in this race," said Torrence, whose time was the fourth-fastest ever run by an American woman. "I was expecting to race Gail (Devers), so I was working very hard to prepare." Devers, the Olympic champion, withdrew from the 60 hurdles with leg cramps, opening the door for Michelle Freeman to roll to an easy victory. Freeman won in 7.93 seconds, capturing her second title in three years. Defending champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee did not enter this year. Dionne Rose finished second in 8.06 seconds and Dawn Bowles was third in 8.19. "It was disappointing (Dever's withdrawl), but I had to do what I came here for," Freeman said. Kevin Lyles, last year's runner-up, won the men's 500 meters in one minute, 2.68 seconds, with two-time champion and Millrose record holder Mark Evertt finishing second. N-C-A-A champion Brandon Rock won the men's 800 meters with a time of 1:50. Ireland's Mark Carroll won the Fred Lebow memorial men's 3,000 meters in 7:44.77. 1994 Millrose winner Maicel Malone reclaimed her women's 400 meter title from defending titlist Jearl Miles in a time of 54.09 seconds. Joetta Clark collected her sixth Millrose title in her 18th Millrose games, claiming the women's 800 in 2:03.20. Kathy Franey took the women's mile in 4:36.46. Earlier today, Allen James won the one-mile walk for the fourth straight year with a time of five minutes, 50.46 seconds. Tisha Walker took the women's high jump with a leap of six feet, two inches. Charles Austin won the men's event at 7-7. In Millrose events held this afternoon at Manhattan College, C.J. Hunter won the men's shotput with a throw of 66 feet, 11 inches and Ramona Pagel won the women's shotput with a throw of 58-3 1/2. Liz Legault took the women's weight throw at 55-9 and Lance Deal had a toss of 66-5 to grab the men's title. 2-02-96 11:58 pm et
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