One Year Later: Ali Truwit’s Journey From Shark Attack Survivor To Paralympic Medalist

Two years ago, swimmer Ali Truwit was learning how to walk again after a life-altering experience. Now, she’s a two-time Paralympic medalist, a nonprofit founder and a soon-to-be New York City marathon runner.

At 25, the Yale graduate has experienced more in the last two years than many do in a lifetime. While snorkeling on her graduation trip in the waters off Turks and Caicos, the collegiate swimmer survived a shark attack that led to the loss of her left leg. After an amputation on her 23rd birthday, she didn’t just return to life — she sprinted toward it. A year later, she was walking down the Champs-Élysées during the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.

“I remember getting chills walking down and tearing up a little bit because I was like, that is the craziest kind of comparison of the year,” she recalled. “A year ago, I was learning how to take my first steps in a prosthetic leg... and now I’m walking in the opening ceremony of the Paralympics,” Truwit remembered.

Paris was her first Paralympic Games, where she set two American records in swimming and won a pair of silver medals (S10 400-meter freestyle and 100m backstroke).

“Making the Paralympics was a crazy, ambitious goal, so even medaling there — that surprised me,” she said. “My journey has been made possible by so many everyday American heroes who stepped up to save my life and to help me rebuild it. More than anything, those medals felt like a thank you to them. I raced with the American flag on my cap, and it felt like a way to say thank you for saving my life, for helping me rebuild it, for being there for me in unimaginable ways.”

Since the Games, her life has continued at a sprint. Earlier this year, she launched her nonprofit, Stronger Than You Think, which has already provided prosthetics to eight recipients, water safety grants to five programs, and is in conversation about a major gift for the Paralympics.

“The Paralympics enabled me to focus on all that I still have as opposed to wallowing in what I didn’t have,” Truwit said. “For me, going for the Paralympics in the first year of recovery was the most healing decision I could have made because I was able to focus on all those things, and it gave me hope of what I could get back to.”

Truwit has also written a book (to be published with St. Martin’s), modeled for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, signed a multi-year sponsorship with Nike and is starring in an upcoming documentary about her journey. This fall, she’ll run the New York City Marathon on a prosthetic blade alongside her mom.

“I ran a marathon with her on Mother’s Day, 10 days before the shark attack,” the 25-year-old said. “Running it again now, in New York City — where I had my amputation — it just feels full circle.”

It’s hard to believe it wasn’t that long ago that Truwit told her parents to donate all her short dresses, as she was uncomfortable with her new body.

“I thought I’d never show my prosthetic. I didn’t love my body. I looked at my leg and saw everything I had lost. But now, I look at it and think, this body saved me. This body fought a shark,” the Connecticut native shared.

Representation has become a cornerstone of her advocacy. “The idea that I just became the third amputee and second Paralympian in SI Swimsuit’s history... I was searching for people like that after my injury. Now, maybe someone else will see me and feel hope.”

Success looks different now, she says.

“Success for me has always been the way I can impact the people around me, the way I can use what I have to do good. I find it incredibly rewarding to put good out in the world. Whether in the pool or not, that’s how I define success,” she explained.

And despite taking a year off from swimming to train for the N.Y.C marathon in the fall, her eyes are on the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles. “Home Games — I’m really excited about that.”

From her viewpoint, the Paris Games weren’t a finish line, but a beginning.

“It was a way to show myself how I want to approach my life now as an amputee,” said Truwit. “Yes, this terrible thing happened, but you can still achieve more than you might think. You still have a full, joy-filled, incredible life ahead.”

She’s now committed to advocacy — in disability inclusion, Paralympic visibility, water safety and access to prosthetics for young girls.

“If my story is getting attention, can I use that to help others? To increase awareness? To raise money? That’s my mission now,” she said.

If she could go back and speak to herself before Paris?

“I’d say: take it in, really feel it all. Feel so proud, feel so excited, feel so focused. And remember: you’re stronger than you think.”

That message has become her mantra.

“I didn’t think I was going to do all of this,” she said. “There were moments I thought it was all over. But little by little, I surprised myself. And I think we all have that in us — more than we think.”

Whether it’s on a starting block or a marathon course, in a boardroom or on a stage, she’s not slowing down. Her ultimate goal?

“For Stronger Than You Think to become a household name, and to spread this message of hope to millions,” she exclaimed.

And no matter where the next year takes her, one thing is clear: she’s not just racing toward the future — she’s reshaping it.

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.