- published: 11 Nov 2008
- views: 55532
Arturo Barrios Flores (born December 12, 1962) is a Mexican long-distance runner. He was born in Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal.
Barrios finished in fifth place in the 10000 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He is a former world record holder at 10000 m (27:08.23, set on August 18, 1989). Barrios' record was not broken until 1993 when Richard Chelimo ran 27:07.91 in Stockholm. This mark stood as the North American 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. Barrios' 1991 performance makes him the first man ever to run a half-marathon 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 North American records and the National Records of Mexico for those two events.
In 1992 he participated in the 6th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, running the 5000m with a time of 13:50.95, finishing in second place.