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

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

and

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

. He holds the Chilean national record for the indoor and outdoor

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run 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 Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

, the indoor

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 3000 m sho ...

, the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship-level events. The ...

, 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 the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

. 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 Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, ...

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 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 Sport of athletics, athletics competition for athletes representing Ibero-American countries as well as a number of other Spanish la ...

and won a bronze at the

2014 Pan American Sports Festival The I Pan American Sports Festival (Spanish: ''Festival Deportivo Panamericano'') was a multi-sport event held between 11 July and 30 September 2014 in Mexico. The Festival was organized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO). Venues The ...

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. He began to train in distance

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

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 ...

.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 city, capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's Chilean Central Valley, central valley and is the center ...

. 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, 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 The 2012 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (''Spanish: XV Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') was the fifteenth edition of the international athletics competition between Ibero-American nations. It was held at the Polideportivo Máxi ...

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 Athletics U20 Championships, World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international Sport of athletics, athletics competition for athletes qualifying as Junior (athletics), juniors (born 1993 or later) which was held at the E ...

, 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 and took the bronze medal, beaten this time by López, as well as Argentine Federico Bruno. He failed to improve his personal best in 2013, but took a silver medal behind Leandro de Oliveira at the South American Road Mile Championships 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 nat ...

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 metres. 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 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-spea ...

, then coming third at the

Pan American Sports Festival The Pan American Sports Festival () is a multi-sport event organized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) for athletes from the Americas. The event is held in co-ordination with ACODEPA (Asociación de Confederaciones Deportivas Panameric ...

(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

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

10K run The 10K run is a long-distance road running competition over a distance of . Also referred to as the 10K road race, 10 km, or simply 10K, it is one of the most common types of road running event, alongside the shorter 5K and longer half ...

, 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

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

Personal bests

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, 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 a ...

– 1:50.23 (Majadahonda 2016) *

– 3:37.82 (Huelva 2016) **Indoors – 3:42.23 (Sabadell 2016) *

– 7:51.30 (Valencia 2022) *

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 sta ...

– 13:31.48 (Heusden-Zolder 2023) *

– 27:58.97 (London 2023) *

(road) – 28:07 (Laredo 2022) *

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 ...

– 1:01:32 (Gdynia 2020) *

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

– 2:08:04 (Sevilla 2024)

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Carlos Living people 1993 births Chilean male middle-distance runners Chilean male long-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 bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games South American Games gold medalists in athletics Athletes from Santiago, Chile South American Games competitors for Chile Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 South American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Chile Olympic male marathon runners 21st-century Chilean sportsmen Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 Pan American Games