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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Tanya Aldred at La Défense Arena

From a shark attack to Paralympic silver: Truwit’s remarkable journey

Ali Truwit receives her silver medal after the S10 400m freestyle
Ali Truwit receives her silver medal after the S10 400m freestyle. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Reuters

Even in the story-laden world of the Paralympics, where things are never monochrome, it is hard to trump getting your leg bitten off by a shark one year and swimming for medals in Paris the next.

Yet that is the true tale behind the success of Ali Truwit, the 24-year-old former Yale competitive swimmer and now silver medallist at La Défense Arena in the S10 400m freestyle on Thursday night, who in 2023 fought off a shark in the waters of Turks and Caicos in the Atlantic Ocean, and saved her own life by racing 70 metres to a boat, having lost part of her left leg.

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