American swimmer Ali Truwit wins silver medal 16 months after losing her leg in a shark attack

(CNN) — After losing her leg in a shark attack just 16 months ago, Ali Truwit completed a glittering return to swimming by winning a medal at the Paralympics.

Her remarkable comeback culminated on Thursday night when Truwit took silver in the women’s S10 400-meter freestyle, setting a new American record with a time of 4:31.39.

“It’s a real full circle moment and speaks to the support I have all around me,” she told reporters following the race. “When you are truly faced with death and you understand what a second chance at life means, you want to make the most of it.”

Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Turks and Caicos in May 2023, the former Yale competitive swimmer was attacked by a shark. After fighting off the animal, she swam 70 meters to a boat before being airlifted to hospital.

“I think it was survival instinct. It was a terrible day, it’s a terrible memory. It was shocking, terrifying, but I am alive, I am here and I am going to make the most of it,” said Truwit.

Doctors were able to save her life, operating three times and eventually amputating her left leg just below the knee.

Despite being left with a phobia of water, the 24-year-old reconnected with her old coach James Barone in September 2023, according to The Guardian. She competed in her first para competition the following month, less than half a year after the attack.

For Truwit, it is less about conquering her fear and more about learning to live with it.

“Every day there is something new for me that I learn that kind of evokes a new memory from the attack. Because I was conscious the whole time,” she said.

“Truthfully, at the start I thought it was going to be something where I overcame the fear and that was it. I have learned from this journey that that is not what this journey looks like. That there will be days it’s great and there will be days I have to fight to get that love back,” she continued.

“But I would say I am at 90:10 right now of really feeling comfortable and happy in the water and I am thankful to be there.”

The swimmer could not have reached this point without the people around her, and two of her friends who were with her on that day in May 2023 were at the La Défense Arena in Paris on Thursday night.

“Sophie, who was in the water with me and tied the tourniquet on my leg and saved my life, is in the stands, as well as Hannah, who was the one who was in medical school rotation at the trauma hospital I was airlifted to,” Truwit said after the race. “I am so lucky for them and all the others in the stands.”

She also thanked her family, saying: “I think my parents have done an incredible job raising me and my three brothers to be adaptable, to try and look for the positives in life and appreciate all we have been given.

“So, when I was faced with a life-changing trauma, I worked to see the positive and focus on gratitude and let that carry me.”

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