ESPN Track and Field

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

CARSON, California, May 18 - American Jenn Stuczynski narrowly missed out on a world record after setting a U.S. best in the women's pole vault at the Adidas Track Classic on Sunday.

The 26-year-old won the event after clearing 4.90 metres on her second attempt before failing three times to set a world best at 5.02.

"I came in with high expectations," Stuczynski told reporters at the Home Depot Center. "We got 90 and that's good. To come out with a 90 jump was pretty special. We'll build off that."

Stuczynski, who set a U.S. record for the second successive year at Carson, felt she came closest to a new world mark with her third attempt at 5.02.

"The first one I was too short after I got hit with a little bit of a headwind," she said on a sweltering afternoon when the trackside temperature reached 43 degrees Celsius.

"I wasn't sure about the second but the third, I thought that might be the one. I let it go. It just didn't work out this time. You have to have three good jumps at it."

Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva holds the world record at 5.01 metres and Stuczynski believes she can eclipse that mark if she improves her consistency.

"I feel that she is within my sights but I still need to become a little more consistent," the New York native said. "There are a few more technical things I need to work on."

Stuczynski, silver medallist at this year's world indoor championships, looked forward to leaving the heat of Los Angeles to return home to Rochester, upstate New York.

"I hope I see snow when I go home," she said. "It is really hot here."

A former golfer and softball player, Stuczynski became the U.S. outdoor champion in 2006 and 2007 and the indoor champion in 2005 and 2007. (Editing by Ed Osmond)

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index