Carlos Díaz (athlete)

Carlos Martín Díaz del Río (born 9 July 1993) is a Chilean middle-distance runner who competes mainly in the 1500 metres. He holds a Chilean Record of 3:37.86 minutes for the distance. He was the gold medallist in the event at the South American Championships in Athletics in 2015.

Carlos Díaz
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Chile
Pan American Games
2019 Lima5000 m
South American Championships
2015 Lima1500 m
Ibero-American Championships
2012 Barquisimeto1500 m
2014 São Paulo1500 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

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, broke the Chilean record by almost 2 minutes with a time of 1:02:22.

Personal bests
  • 800 metres – 1:50.35 minutes (2014)
  • 1500 metres – 3:37.86 minutes (2015)
  • 3000 metres – 7:53.37 minutes (2015)
  • 5000 metres – 13:59 minutes (Panamerican Games 2015)
  • 10K run – 28:45 minutes (2015)
  • Half marathon - 1:02:22 hours (Valencia Half Marathon 2018)
  • 1500 metres Indoor – 3:42.23 minutes (Sabadell 2016)
  • 3000 metres Indoor – 7:59.23 minutes (Sabadell 2016)

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
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
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

References
  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. 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. CONSUDATLE. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
  10. 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. 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 Archived 2015-06-20 at the Wayback Machine. CONSUDATLE. Retrieved on 2015-06-20.
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