Arturo Barrios Flores (born December 12, 1962 in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

) is a Mexican long-distance runner who set the 10,000 m world record in 1989, the one hour world record in 1991, and the 20,000 m world record en route to the one hour run world record.

Career

Barrios finished in fifth place in the 10,000 metres at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. He is a former

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder at the 10,000 m (27:08.23, set on August 18, 1989 at the Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

). Barrios' record was not broken until 1993 when Richard Chelimo ran 27:07.91 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

. This mark stood as the

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the ...

record until May 1, 2010, and still stands as the national record of Mexico. On March 30, 1991, Barrios set world records at one hour (21.101 km) and 20,000 m (56:55.6). These records stood until June 2007, when they were broken by

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie ( am, ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, ''haylē gebre silassē''; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian retired long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Champions ...

. Barrios' 1991 performance makes him the first man ever to run a

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 shortcut ...

distance in less than one hour; the first to do so in an actual half-marathon competition was Moses Tanui in 1993. That performance also still stands as the

records and the Mexican record for those two events. In 1992 he participated in the World Cup in Athletics, running the 5000 m with a time of 13:50.95, finishing in second place. Between 1987 and 1990, Barrios won the San Francisco

Bay to Breakers Bay to Breakers is an annual footrace in San Francisco, California typically on the third Sunday of May. The phrase "Bay to Breakers" reflects the fact that the race starts at the northeast end of the downtown area a few blocks from The Embarc ...

race, considered the largest footrace in the world, four consecutive times. Barrios became a United States citizen in September 1994. Barrios graduated from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...

in 1985 where he competed in track and cross country. Barrios was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. The annual Arturo Barrios Invitational 5K and 10K road races in Chula Vista, California, launched in 1989, were held for the last time in 2006.

Personal records

Achievements

References

External links

*
The history of the Hour runYoutube video of 10,000 m World Record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrios, Arturo 1962 births Living people Athletes from Mexico City Mexican male long-distance runners Olympic male long-distance runners Olympic athletes of Mexico Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Mexico Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games World record setters in athletics (track and field)