Ali Truwit, after winning two silver medals in her Paralympic debut in 2024, took all of 2025 off from full-time swimming training.
She had plenty else to keep her busy.
Truwit launched a nonprofit (Stronger Than You Think), premiered a documentary (also Stronger Than You Think), signed with Nike and even ran the New York City Marathon in 4 hours, 14 minutes and 34 seconds (raising $250,000 for the nonprofit with funds earmarked to provide runners with prosthetic blades).
She’s been back in the pool, three to five hours a day, since January at Chelsea Piers in her native Connecticut.
Truwit, 26, returns to major international competition at the Para Pan Pacific Championships from Aug. 28-30 in Walnut, California, about 20 miles east of Los Angeles, which hosts the Paralympics for the first time in 2028.
“I initially thought that I was going to do Paris and then be done with Para swimming,” she said. “I think that it is impossible to deny the pull of what an exciting and huge and iconic Games we’re going to get in LA 28.”
In 2024, Truwit became one of the stories of the Paris Games, competing after losing part of her left foot and leg in a May 2023 shark attack off the Turks and Caicos islands, two days after graduating from Yale.
She surprised herself by earning silver medals in the 400m freestyle and 100m backstroke in the S10 classification. Her 100m back time was faster than her best time before the attack as a high school swimmer.
“I felt like first just making the team a year after a shark attack and an amputation was a huge feat,” she said. “Then to be able to bring home two silver medals and two American records for Team USA just felt so special.”
While Truwit trains for LA 2028, she also has goals to impact the greater Paralympic movement.
This past January, she announced the Stronger Than You Think Performance Incentive Fund. Starting with Para Pan Pacs, U.S. Para swimmers are eligible to receive payouts for podium finishes or world records at designated competitions.
A world record nets $10,000, while top results get $3,472 (first place), $2,083 (second place) and $1,389 (third place). Truwit expects the exact amounts to change over time depending on how many people earn the money.
“This is our starting spot,” she said. “We’re hopefully going to see that increase as we grow.”
It’s part of her broader goal to increase exposure for Paralympians as the LA Games approach.
“When I thought about the power of a home Games to help shine a light on Paralympians and people with disabilities and female athletes, and to get that support, it was impossible to not continue,” she said. “I want to do everything I can to use any attention my story is getting to highlight all of these incredible stories.”
