Bubka’s 19-8 1/4 Draws Mixed Reviews : Track and field: Height is best outdoors in U.S., but crowd at Jenner meet was expecting more.

Literally and figuratively, Sergei Bubka took care of business Saturday.

The pole vaulter extraordinaire, who 34 times has set a world record, came to the Bruce Jenner Classic for his first U.S. outdoor appearance, vaulted higher than anyone ever has outdoors in this country, packed up his poles and waved goodby.

Those among the crowd of 12,404 who were at San Jose City College until the bittersweet end did not know whether to respond with cheers or jeers.

They had seen a remarkable vault, 19 feet 8 1/4 inches, but there also was an expectation that Bubka would continue to soar, up to the magical number of 20 feet, which he, and only he, has cleared, 10 times to be exact. Or perhaps even up to his outdoor world-record height of 20-1 1/4.

Although his 19-8 1/4 equaled the best indoor mark in the United States, also set by Bubka during the 1992 Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena, he appeared to be saving his best for another day, maybe next Saturday in the Prefontaine Classic at Eugene, Ore.

That is near the headquarters of his major sponsor, Nike, which is footing the bill for this trip to the United States. The sport’s insiders were saying before this meet that the Ukranian vaulter would not do anything here to detract from his appearance at Eugene.

Although he did not list product loyalty as a reason, Bubka acknowledged that he was looking ahead. “I’ve been planning for Eugene,” he said.

Besides, conditions here were not ideal for any endeavor other than flying kites. The start of the pole vault was postponed for more than an hour in order to move the landing pit to another location in the infield. Officials hoped that the change of venue would lessen the impact of the fickle wind.

How fickle?

Nigeria’s Mary Onyali, who won the 100 meters, said the wind was in her face for the first half of the race and at her back for the last half.

The wind stirred up so much dust that it agitated Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s asthma condition and forced her to withdraw from the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. She took only three jumps in the long jump, but that was all she needed as she won by almost 2 1/2 feet with a wind-aided best of 23-3 1/4.

“I was not so comfortable with the wind,” said Bubka, who missed twice at lower heights. “It was disturbing a lot.”

The only athlete it did not seem to be disturbing in this meet, the third stop on the Mobil Grand Prix circuit, was intermediate hurdler Kevin Young. The Olympic champion did not approach his world-record time of 46.78, but his 48.17 was the best in the world this year.

The other Olympic champion who trains under John Smith at Westwood, Quincy Watts, did not look like one, finishing sixth in the 400 meters in 46.85 seconds. Andrew Valmon, one of Watts’ teammates on the U.S. Olympic 1,600- meter relay team that won a gold medal, was first in 45.71.

“A bad day at the office,” Watts said.

Two other athletes coached by Smith who have shown promise are 110-meter hurdler Mark Crear and sprinter Jon Drummond. Crear won his fourth race in five meets this season, but Drummond appeared to have left his best effort on the track at New York, where he upset Mike Marsh and Carl Lewis in the 100 last weekend.

Drummond was third here in a race won in 10.11 by Andre Cason, running only his third outdoor race since he collapsed on the track because of a torn hamstring during last summer’s U.S. Olympic trials.

Second in the 100 meters was Nigerian Daniel Effiong, who returned an hour and a half later to win the 200. Effiong, who runs for Central Arizona Community College, went in recent years by the family name of Phillip, but he changed it an attempt to gain anonymity after he was falsely implicated in a positive drug test in Nigeria.

An athlete who is finding it more difficult to start over is Randy Barnes, the world record-holder in the shotput whose two-year suspension for failing a test for an anabolic steroid ended last summer. He still disputes the result and has sued the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which governs track and field, but he still feels the glare of public distrust.

“If I don’t throw well, people say it’s because I’m off the stuff,” Barnes said. “If I do throw well, people will say, ‘What’s he doing now?’ ”

Barnes had one of those former days Saturday with a best of 68-7 1/4, hardly in the same city block as his world record of 75-10 1/4, but it was good enough to win.

“I’ve got to put this behind me,” he said. “I can’t tell you how. I don’t know if I can. But I’ve got to do it. I don’t want to go to work for a living.”