Drechsler Wins Duel With Joyner-Kersee : Track & field: German matches season’s best in long jump, but American wins in 60-meter hurdles.

NEW YORK — Competing against Jackie Joyner-Kersee brings out the best in German long jumper Heike Drechsler. Competing in the Millrose Games seems to bring out the best in both women.

Drechsler, who set a world indoor long-jump record at the Millrose Games in 1987, won the event Friday at Madison Square Garden with a leap of 22 feet 10 inches, matching the season best she recorded last week in Grenoble, France. Joyner-Kersee finished second at 22-5 1/4, but she had already won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.96 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year and third-fastest at the meet.

Joyner-Kersee surged ahead of Lynda Tolbert-Goode midway through the race and leaned at the finish line to win by a hundredth of a second.

“I didn’t think I got out too well,” Joyner-Kersee said, “and I’m very happy that I was in the middle (Lane 4) and not on the outside.

“This is just the beginning. Each race, I’m slowly trying to get better.”

She had hoped to do better in the long jump, but accepted the result with minimal regret.

“In the early part of my series (of jumps) I had problems off the toe board,” she said. “I came in here and didn’t want to struggle. My speed is up. I need to work on my acceleration off the boards.”

Russian pole vaulter Igor Trandenkov had to adjust to a runway that permitted him 18 steps instead of his usual 20. But he adapted enough to defeat crowd favorite and world-record holder Sergei Bubka of Ukraine, the 1988 Olympic gold medalist and only vaulter to have cleared 20 feet.

Bubka passed at the first two heights and was greeted by rhythmic clapping from the crowd of 16,789 when he took his place on the runway to attempt 18-8 1/4. After soaring over the bar, he waved toward the stands, in what turned out to be a parting tribute.

Bubka passed at 19- 1/4. Trandenkov missed his first try at that height but made his second, matching his personal best. Both missed their first two attempts at 19-2 1/4, and Trandenkov then put pressure on Bubka by passing on his final opportunity, forcing Bubka to clear the bar or lose.

Bubka hit it with his forearms and failed.

American Kory Tarpenning was third, clearing 18-8 1/4. Maksim Tarasov, the 1992 Olympic champion, was fifth after failing at 18-4 1/2.

After clinching the victory, Trandenkov tried to set a meet record at 19-4 1/4, but he jarred the bar loose on the way up. He bounced up to blow a kiss to the crowd.

Gwen Torrence, the 1992 Olympic 200-meter champion, also enjoyed her visit, winning the 60-meter sprint in 7.09 seconds despite what she called a horrible start.

Long jumper Roland McGhee, ranked fourth in the world last year, also recorded a season-best with a jump of 27-2. Maria Mutola of Mozambique, the world indoor and outdoor champion in the women’s 800, won in 2:02, to extend her winning streak to 30 races.