A little more than a year after losing part of her leg to a shark attack, Darien's Ali Truwit has won a silver medal in the Paralympics in Paris.
Truwit finished second in the women's 400m freestyle S10 final on Thursday with a time of 4:31.39 -- a new American record. That time is almost three seconds faster than the time she swam in the preliminary heats.
Truwit finished just over two seconds behind gold medalist, world and Paralympic record-holder Aurielle Rivard, of Canada. Bianka Pap, of Hungary, took the bronze.
"It's honestly a surreal moment right now and I feel really, really grateful to contribute to Team USA's medal count because what I've achieved is on the shoulders of truly so much support from everyone around the country, that's what's gotten me to where I am today," Truwit said after the race.
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As a swimmer at Yale, Truwit thought her competitive swimming career was over when she graduated in May 2023.
After graduation, Ali and fellow Yale swimmer Sophie Pilkinton went on vacation in the Turks and Caicos and that is when her life changed forever. The two friends were attacked by a shark while snorkeling. Truwit said the shark quickly had her leg in its mouth and she was in a struggle to survive.
“I just kept telling myself 'stay conscious, stay together just get to the boat, get to the boat,'” Truwit told NBC Connecticut before heading to Paris. “I relied on 15 years of competitive swimming to give me any advantage in a situation where I had none.”
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Just three months after the attack, Truwit swam in her first para swimming event, according to USA Paralympics. A year later, she is taking home a silver medal.
Truwit has another chance to win a medal on Friday in the women's 100m backstroke S10. She will swim in the second of two preliminary heats at 4:10 a.m. ET. She comes into that race with the third best entry time of all of the competitors. If she advances, she will swim in the final at 12:12 p.m. ET.
