Arturo Barrios

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.

Barrios graduated from Texas A&M University in 1985 where he competed in track and cross country.

Between 1987 and 1990, Barrios won the San Francisco Bay to Breakers race, considered the largest footrace in the world, four consecutive times.

Barrios finished in fifth place in the 10,000 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

He is a former world record holder at the 10,000 m (27:08.23, set on August 18, 1989, at the Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) in Berlin, Germany).

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.

On March 30, 1991, Barrios set world records at one hour (21.101 km) and 20,000 m (56:55.6).

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.

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.

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

Barrios became a United States citizen in September 1994.

Barrios was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.

These records stood until June 2007, when they were broken by Haile Gebrselassie.

This mark stood as the North American record until May 1, 2010, and still stands as the national record of Mexico.