The runner who went viral for ignoring her children as she crossed the finish line of a half-marathon race has spoken out about the controversial video. Last week, the internet was sent into a frenzy after a video showed a father “pushing” his children into the path of their running mother, who was completing a half marathon. The clip had thousands of users claiming the husband “sabotaged” his wife at the finish line by distracting her with their children.
Now, the mother has set the record straight regarding the viral moment. The runner identified herself as Luciana Grandi Lourenção, and addressed her followers in Portuguese. In a video posted to Instagram, Lourenção revealed that she shares her two daughters with her husband, Pedro.
Lourenção – who described herself as a personal trainer, an amateur athlete, and a street runner, according to People – explained that she and her husband decided their daughters would join her as she crossed the finish line. However, Lourenção said there was no way of knowing whether she would finish in first place, and the stakes were heightened because she was only a few steps ahead of another runner. “There was no way he could have known that the second competitor was very close to me,” Lourenção said in Portuguese.
She noted that she was feeling a mix of emotions through the final stretch of the race, which stopped her from pausing to greet her daughters on the sidelines. She ran the Presidente Prudente H.
