Husband jeopardises wife’s half-marathon victory by sending children her way before the finish line

The Brazilian runner was on her way to winning the half marathon when she spotted her family before the finish line. Photo / TikTok

This article was one of Herald Lifestyle’s best-read stories of 2024.

A man in Brazil has been labelled as a “toxic” husband after footage emerged showing him sending his children towards their mother, as she raced to cross the finish line of a half marathon towards victory, with another runner hot on her heels.

Video uploaded to social media shows the runner approaching the finish line when a man, believed to be her husband, leads the children on to the path that the woman is running on, presumably to get the children to run and finish the race alongside their mother.

The clip shows the woman running around the children and heading towards the finish line on her own, to finish the race.

As the woman crossed the finish line, winning the race in a time of just over one hour and forty minutes, instead of cheering or celebrating his wife’s victory, the man can be seen shrugging to fellow spectators, as if to say he did not understand why she had not slowed down for the children.

On Twitter (now known as X), people pointed out that the video highlights the different expectations put on female and male runners.

“She was running a marathon and about to win, then her husband had the bright idea to use HER KIDS and slow her down JUST BEFORE THE FINISH LINE? Like he could have actually done it at the finish line. You cannot convince me that this was not maliciously done,” one person wrote.

She was running a marathon and about to win, then her husband had the bright idea to use HER KIDS and slow her down JUST BEFORE THE FINISH LINE? Like he could have actually done it at the finish line. You cannot convince me that this was not maliciously done pic.twitter.com/H6M7pXqojt

— ThatPortharcourtBoy aka Nnukwu Nmanwu (@ThatPHCBoy) May 22, 2024

“It was totally deliberate that he did it there rather than after the finish line so that she’d have to run past her kids who were being encouraged to go up and cuddle her,” someone else said.

The video led to a debate about whether the man’s actions were deliberate or just the result of ignorance but one Twitter user pointed out that excusing it with ignorance is part of a culture of “weaponised incompetence”.

“A lot of people saying it’s not malicious, he’s just stupid. Don’t fall for the weaponised incompetence. Men like this will steal your moment any chance they get and if it’s simply because of lack of awareness that can still be malicious if you aren’t trying to learn,” the user wrote.

The clip went viral on multiple social media platforms, including TikTok and X, and also generated a lot of debate on Reddit, where one user wrote: “I honestly don’t know if he’s blatantly ignorant or willfully sabotaging her. Maybe he was looking for a cute moment. Maybe he thinks being a mum is the only accomplishment in her life. But at least wait until AFTER she finishes before shoving the kids into her path”.

“Literally 10 more feet and they could have run right to her and gotten that hug they wanted. I would love to see my son at the end of a hard race. I’ve never been afforded this opportunity. But this guy just doesn’t respect her or the hard work that’s gone into getting her to that finish line and it makes me sad,” another Reddit user wrote.

Another commenter on Reddit explained the issue with the man’s actions: “Even if we’re attributing the best intentions to this dude, it’s clear that he ranks being a mum over all her other pursuits and accomplishments. And, yes, it is - I’m sure she would rank her kids’ wellbeing above running a race. But the point is she can do both, yet here he is forcing the motherhood back onto her when she’s just trying to run.”

Despite many people slamming the husband’s actions, “marathon mum ignores kids” is also something an opinion doing the rounds online and trending on social media, with a few people believing the woman should have jeopardised months of hard work and potentially given up her first place to cuddle her children before the finish.

Intentionally or not (and the jury is out on which of them is worse), despite her husband’s actions, the woman went on to win the half-marathon race.

This article was originally published on May 23, 2024.