Carlos Díaz (athlete)

Carlos Martín Díaz del Río (born 9 July 1993) is a Chilean middle and long-distance runner. He holds the Chilean national record for the indoor and outdoor 1500 metres, the indoor 3000 metres, the 10,000 metres, the half marathon and the marathon. He was the gold medallist in the event at the South American Championships in Athletics in 2015.

Carlos Díaz
Personal information
Full nameCarlos Martín Díaz del Río
Born (1993-07-09) 9 July 1993 (age 31)
Santiago, Chile
Sport
Country Chile
SportAthletics
Event1500 metresMarathon
Medal record
Pan American Games
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Lima 5000 m
South American Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Cochabamba 1500 m
Gold medal – first place 2022 Asunción 10,000 m
South American Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Lima 1500 m
Gold medal – first place 2023 São Paulo 10,000 m
Silver medal – second place 2017 Luque 1500 m
Silver medal – second place 2021 Guayaquil 10,000 m
Ibero-American Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Barquisimeto 1500 m
Bronze medal – third place 2014 São Paulo 1500 m

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 and won a bronze at the 2014 Pan American Sports Festival.

Career

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He came from a sporting background, as his mother Julia del Río had competed internationally for Chile at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.[1] He began to train in distance running with his mother as his coach from a young age.[2] Díaz made his international debut at the 2008 South American Youth Championships in Athletics, where he was ninth.[3] He represented his country at the global level the year after, running in the heats at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

He began his 2012 with his first senior medal, taking bronze at the 2012 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics just ahead of his older compatriot Iván López. He became an under-20 global finalist at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics, finishing seventh after a national junior record of 3:43.16 minutes in the qualifiers.[8] 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.[9]

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.[10] Díaz returned to the track for Chile in 2014. First, he came close to a personal best at the South American Games in the Chilean capital but narrowly missed a medal behind Colombia's Rafith Rodríguez.[11] After a personal best of 3:40.24 minutes in July,[10] he scored two international bronze medals: first repeating his finish at the Ibero-American Championships, then coming third at the Pan American Sports Festival (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.[12]

Díaz was an improved runner at the start of 2015 and set personal bests in the 1500 metres (3:40.15) and 3000 metres (7:56.34).[10] He set a new best in the 10K run, defending his title in that section of the Santiago Marathon with a time of 28:45 minutes.[13][14] 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.[15]

In 2018, Díaz made a move up in distance to the half marathon, and in his debut, he broke the Chilean record by almost 2 minutes with a time of 1:02:22.

Personal bests

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International competitions

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2008 South American Youth Championships Lima, Peru 9th 1500 m 4:09.73
2009 World Youth Championships Bressanone, Italy 11th (q) 1500 m 4:02.31
2010 South American Cross Country Championships Guayaquil, Ecuador 4th Youth race 12:09.7
3rd Youth team 13 pts
South American Youth Championships Santiago, Chile 1st 1500 m 4:12.11
2011 South American Junior Championships Medellín, Colombia 4th 800 m 1:50.92
3rd 1500 m 3:54.41
2012 Ibero-American Championships Barquisimeto, Venezuela 3rd 1500 m 3:48.50
World Junior Championships Barcelona, Spain 7th 1500 m 3:44.02
South American Under-23 Championships São Paulo, Brazil 3rd 1500 m 3:50.01
2013 South American Road Mile Championships Belém, Brazil 2nd Mile run 4:05
2014 South American Games Santiago, Chile 4th 1500 m 3:43.22
Ibero-American Championships São Paulo, Brazil 3rd 1500 m 3:44.74
Pan American Sports Festival Mexico City. Mexico 3rd 1500 m 3:49.20
South American Under-23 Championships Montevideo, Uruguay 1st 1500 m 3:44.52
2015 South American Championships Lima, Peru 1st 1500 m 3:40.79
World Championships Beijing, China 24th (sf) 1500 m 3:47.48
2016 Ibero-American Championships Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2nd 1500 m 3:39.20
2nd 3000 m 7:54.31
2017 South American Championships Asunción, Paraguay 2nd 1500 m 3:45.69
Bolivarian Games Santa Marta, Colombia 1st 1500 m 3:45.58
1st 5000 m 14:02.92
2018 South American Games Cochabamba, Bolivia 1st 1500 m 3:50.82
2019 Pan American Games Lima, Peru 12th 1500 m 3:49.33
3rd 5000 m 13:54.43
10,000 m DNF
2021 South American Championships Guayaquil, Ecuador 2nd 5000 m 13:52.63
2022 Ibero-American Championships La Nucía, Spain 2nd 5000 m 13:51.97
Bolivarian Games Valledupar, Colombia 1st 5000 m 14:34.59
4th 10,000 m 30:03.46
South American Games Asunción, Paraguay 1st 10,000 m 29:15.66
2023 South American Championships São Paulo, Brazil 1st 10,000 m 28:57.18
World Championships Budapest, Hungary 10,000 m DNF
Pan American Games Santiago, Chile 4th 10,000 m 29:22.54

References

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  1. ^ Cross Senior Women - 23-03-97. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-21.
  2. ^ Carlos Díaz se quedó con el oro sudamericano en los 1500 metros planos Archived 2018-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Instituto Nacional de Deportes (2015-06-13). Retrieved on 2015-06-21.
  3. ^ South American Youth Championships 2008. World Junior Athletics History. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
  4. ^ Carlos Diaz. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
  5. ^ South American Youth Championships 2010. WJAH. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
  6. ^ South American Cross Country Championships 2010. WJAH. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
  7. ^ South American Junior Championships 2011. WJAH. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
  8. ^ Martin, David (2012-07-10). Driouch and Dirirsa commence rivalry – 2 World leading performances – Barcelona 2012 - Day One morning session. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-21.
  9. ^ Campeonatos Sul-Americano CAIXA de Atletismo SUB-23[usurped]. CONSUDATLE. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
  10. ^ a b c Carlos Diaz. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
  11. ^ 2014 South American Games Men's 1500 metres. Santiago2014. Retrieved on 2015-06-21.
  12. ^ 2014 South American Under-23 Championships[usurped]. CONSUDATLE. Retrieved on 2015-06-21.
  13. ^ Biscayart, Eduardo (2015-04-12). Lobuwan and Melchor win at the Santiago de Chile Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-21.
  14. ^ Biscayart, Eduardo (2014-04-07). Beyene and Chepkorir win Santiago de Chile Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-21.
  15. ^ Campeonato Sudamericano Mayores Lima 2015[usurped]. CONSUDATLE. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
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