Arturo Barrios

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). 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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,^[6] were held for the last time in 2006.^[7]