Bubka Raises the Record to 20-1 1/2 : Track and field: He sets his 32nd mark in pole vault at Tokyo. Mitchell beats Lewis in 100.

TOKYO —  If Sergei Bubka’s failure to clear a height at the Barcelona Olympics left anyone in doubt, he proved again Saturday that he is the best pole vaulter in the world, setting a world record of 20 feet 1 1/2 inches.

World record-holder Carl Lewis, meanwhile, continued to have his problems in the 100-meter dash, losing again to Dennis Mitchell.

Bubka soared to his 32nd world record at the Toto International track and field meet, easily clearing the record height on his first attempt. He broke the record of 20-1 he set at Padua, Italy, Aug. 30.

Bubka has raised the world record by fractions of an inch on each of his last eight record-setting performances, because each time he breaks the mark he earns bonus money from meet organizers.

“I hope I can keep this going until Atlanta,” the Ukrainian said. Atlanta is the site of the 1996 Olympics.

Bubka added: “I try to forget these things as soon as possible. All I want to think of now is jumping 6.14 (meters, 20-1 3/4).”

Lewis, however, also may want to forget his performance.

Lewis, who set the world record of 9.86 seconds in the 100 last year at the World Championships in Tokyo, was unable to catch the fast-starting Mitchell, who was timed in 10.18.

Mitchell won the U.S. Olympic trials 100, in which Lewis failed to make the team. He also beat Lewis at Turin, Italy, this month and at Copenhagen in August.

“I’ve been studying Carl’s weaknesses,” Mitchell said. “It was my plan to get ahead of him in the first 40 meters.

“This is the first year I’ve come out a race or two ahead of Carl.”

“Tonight I was tight, so it wasn’t a good race,” Lewis said. “It’s irrelevant. Overall I had a good season.”

Lewis was timed in 10.25, with third-place finisher Frank Fredericks of Namibia clocked in 10.27.

In the 200, Olympic gold medalist Mike Marsh won in 20.59.

The Santa Monica Track Club sprinters--Lewis, Leroy Burrell, Marsh and Floyd Heard--teamed for a meet record of 39.18 in the 400-meter relay. Marsh, Burrell, Mitchell and Lewis set the world record of 37.40 at Barcelona last month.

Mike Powell, the world record-holder in the long jump, won with a final leap of 27-5 1/4, far short of the record of 29-4 1/2 he set at last year’s World Championships.

Second at 26-3 3/4 was fellow American Mike Conley, the Olympic triple jump champion.

In other men’s events, Olympic champion Khalid Skah of Morocco won the 10,000 in 27:55.88, a meet record, and American Steve Lewis, the silver medalist at Barcelona, won the 400 in 45.22.

Gwen Torrence, the 200-meter Olympic champion, won the women’s 100 in 11.43, and Olympic silver medalist Sandra Patrick-Farmer won the 400 hurdles in 56.69.