Carlos Martín Díaz del Río (born 9 July 1993) is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

who competes mainly in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

. He holds a Chilean Record of 3:37.86 minutes for the distance. He was the gold medallist in the event at the

South American Championships in Athletics The South American Championships in Athletics is a biennial athletics event organized by CONSUDATLE. The first edition in 1919 was competed between only two countries (Chile and Uruguay), but it has since expanded and has generally been held every t ...

in 2015. Díaz rose through the age categories, taking the South American Youth title in 2010, a South American Junior bronze in 2011, then a gold medal at the

South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics The South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics (Campeonatos Sudamericanos de Atletismo de Sub-23) is an under-23 athletics competition held between the member associations of the South American Athletics Confederation (ConSudAtle). Rules an ...

in 2014. As a senior athlete he is a two-time medallist at the

Ibero-American Championships in Athletics The Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (Spanish: ''Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') is a biennial athletics competition for athletes representing Ibero-American countries as well as a number of other Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking ...

and won a bronze at the 2014 Pan American Sports Festival.

Career

He came from a sporting background, as his mother Julia del Río had competed internationally for Chile at the

IAAF World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

. He began to train in distance

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

with his mother as his coach from a young age. Díaz made his international debut at the 2008 South American Youth Championships in Athletics, where he was ninth. He represented his country at the global level the year after, running in the heats at the

2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the sixth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held at Brixen-Bressanone Sport Arena in Bressanone, Italy from 8–12 July 2009. Athletes had to be aged 16 or 1 ...

.Carlos Diaz
IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-20. He returned to continental level at the 2010 South American Youth Championships in Athletics and had his first success, taking the 1500 m gold on home turf in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. Another youth level medal came at the 2010 South American Cross Country Championships, where his fourth-place finish led Chile to the team bronze medals. He began to make progress in the under-20 category at the

2011 South American Junior Championships in Athletics The 39th South American Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Medellín, Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Car ...

, taking a bronze as the youngest 1500 m medallist as well as fourth in the 800 m. He began his 2012 with his first senior medal, taking bronze at the 2012 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics just ahead of his older compatriot Iván López. He became an under-20 global finalist at the

2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1993 or later) which was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on 10–15 ...

, finishing seventh after a national junior record of 3:43.16 minutes in the qualifiers. He moved up another age category for the

2012 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics The 2012 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics were held in São Paulo, Brazil, at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Melo from 22 to 23 September 2012. They were the 5th edition of the competition, organised under the supervision of the C ...

and took the bronze medal, beaten this time by López, as well as Argentine

Federico Bruno Federico Bruno (born 18 June 1993) is an Argentine middle- and long-distance runner. He is and weighs .Leandro de Oliveira at the

South American Road Mile Championships The South American Road Mile Championships (Spanish: ''Campeonatos Sudamericanos de Milla en Ruta'', Portuguese: ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Milha de Rua'') is an annual road running competition over the distance of one mile organized by CONSUDA ...

and was runner-up at the inaugural Chilean National Sports Games.Carlos Diaz
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2015-06-20. Díaz returned to the track for Chile in 2014. First, he came close to a personal best at the

South American Games The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: ''Juegos Suramericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos''), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Cruz del Sur'') is a regional multi-sport event held between nati ...

in the Chilean capital but narrowly missed a medal behind Colombia's

Rafith Rodríguez Rafith Rodríguez Lleneres (born 1 June 1989 in El Bagre), is a Colombian athlete competing predominantly in the 800 meters. His personal best in the event is 1:44.31 achieved in 2011 in Belém. Personal bests *400 m: 45.62 –Trujillo, Peru, 2 ...

. After a personal best of 3:40.24 minutes in July, he scored two international bronze medals: first repeating his finish at the Ibero-American Championships, then coming third at the Pan American Sports Festival (Venezuela's Marvin Blanco won both times). In his last outing of the year he topped the podium at the South American Under-23 Championships with a championship record time of 3:44.52 minutes. Díaz was an improved runner at the start of 2015 and set personal bests in the 1500 metres (3:40.15) and

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

(7:56.34). He set a new best in the

10K run 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, defending his title in that section of the Santiago Marathon with a time of 28:45 minutes. At the age of twenty-one, Díaz established himself as one of the region's top middle-distance runners at the 2015 South American Championships in Athletics by securing his first senior gold in the 1500 m. – one of two winners for Chile at the meeting, alongside Víctor Aravena.. CONSUDATLE. Retrieved on 2015-06-20. In 2018, Díaz made a move up in distance to the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

, and in his debut, broke the Chilean record by almost 2 minutes with a time of 1:02:22.

Personal bests

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

– 1:50.35 minutes (2014) *

– 3:37.86 minutes (2015) *

– 7:53.37 minutes (2015) *

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

– 13:59 minutes (Panamerican Games 2015) *

– 28:45 minutes (2015) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

- 1:02:22 hours (Valencia Half Marathon 2018) * 1500 metres Indoor – 3:42.23 minutes (Sabadell 2016) * 3000 metres Indoor – 7:59.23 minutes (Sabadell 2016)

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Carlos Living people 1993 births Chilean male middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Chile Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 South American Games South American Games gold medalists for Chile South American Games medalists in athletics Pan American Games bronze medalists for Chile Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games South American Games gold medalists in athletics