Arturo Barrios Flores (born December 12, 1962, in Mexico City) is a Mexican and American 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.[1]
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 Mexican record for those two events.[3]
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 race, considered the largest footrace in the world, four consecutive times.[4]
Barrios became a United States citizen in September 1994. Barrios graduated from Texas A&M University in 1985 where he competed in track and cross country for the Aggies. 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,[5] were held for the last time in 2006.[6]
