Meet the shark-attack victim and Paralympian who finished the New York City marathon

By Don Riddell, CNN

(CNN) — When Ali Truwit crossed the finish line at the Copenhagen Marathon in 2023, she couldn’t have imagined how hard it would be to run the 26.2-mile distance again.

Just 10 days later, she was bitten by a shark while snorkeling in Turks and Caicos and, although she was lucky to escape with her life, her left foot and the lower part of her leg were lost in the attack.

But at the New York City Marathon in 2025, Truwit finished another marathon, completing the most remarkable comeback from a devastating physical and psychological trauma.

“I’m over the moon,” she exclaimed to CNN in an interview the next day, “I’m definitely feeling the race a little bit, but still feeling on top of the world.”

Anyone who’s ever run a marathon will tell you about the grueling nature of the challenge, but few could imagine having to remove their leg multiple times throughout the race.

“Still feels crazy to say,” she said, explaining that the sweat was making her prosthetic limb slip on her leg.

After one such stop, Truwit posted a video to her Instagram story of her bouncing up and down at the side of the road to put her prosthetic back on. Another challenge was her inability to feel the ground beneath her, particularly around the five bridges along the iconic route.

“Learning how to do it without an ankle, which is typically how you adjust for the incline and decline, was totally new,” she said, noting that it was also hard not to slip on all the water and discarded cups around the hydration stations every mile. “There were a lot of nuances to navigate with a blade.”

Since that fateful day in May 2023, Truwit’s journey has been remarkable and inspirational. A competitive swimmer at Yale University, she said that getting back into the water triggered flashbacks of the attack, but within just 16 months she’d conquered her fear to win two silver medals at the Paralympics in Paris.

In New York, she reclaimed more of her life, running alongside her former teammate Sophie Pilkinton and another 13 family and friends – the people who saved her life and helped her to rebuild it. Pilkinton was there from the start, helping to fight off the shark and swim back to the boat where she applied a life-saving tourniquet; now Truwit says they’re like sisters.

“We have an incredibly special bond,” Truwit said. “To come through a shark attack like that and survive together and save each other, to be running a marathon side by side, step by step, it’s just such a testament to her support and our friendship. Truly something I’m going to cherish for the rest of my life.”

Truwit says that each stage of her recovery has been challenging, but in different ways.

“Swimming was hard because of the traumatic memories I had associated with the water, (but) I don’t swim with my prosthetic, whereas with running I have to use that prosthetic to help me get where I want to go,” she told CNN Sports.

“And that’s a big challenge, you know, navigate the swelling and all of those frustrations. Running is physically harder; swimming was emotionally harder.”

Despite her obvious triumphs, Truwit says that she’s still recovering from the attack, she’s still a work in progress.

“Grief comes in waves,” she laments. “I grieve different things at different times. I’ve made a lot of progress on my healing journey, and I think there’s still a-ways to go.”

Many have asked if she had the power to go back and rewrite her history, would she?

“Not to have my life as an amputee would have been easier,” she explained. “I wish it hadn’t happened, but I’m really thankful that I now have this opportunity and platform to impact other people too.”

Truwit and her entourage ran New York in blue T-shirts with the name of her charity, “Stronger Than You Think,” stamped in white letters on the back. By the end of the day, they’d raised $220,000. Throughout the race, she glanced at the home screen of her cell phone, a patchwork of the nine women and girls that she has helped to find their own prosthetic limbs.

“I was really shocked at how expensive prosthetics are and how little insurance covers relative to what’s needed,” she said. “These prosthetics are our mobility, our quality of life, our ability to go back to our careers and families and passions, so I wanted to do something about it. It’s been the most healing work for me to take this bad thing and use it for good. Our recipients give me hope and inspiration and joy, and it really was a goal for me, to not just give the prosthetics, but to create community and friendship and support among us.”

Truwit’s positive attitude is infectious, she’s able to recall the most awful moment of her life with a smile and the social media videos documenting a painful recovery depict a joyful young woman; it’s as if the experience of being so close to death has infused her with a new love of life.

“I’ve been given a second chance,” she explained, “I came face to face with that almost not being my reality. You want to live life fully and beautifully and joyfully. Of course, there’s hard moments, I just kind of believe that smiling tricks my brain a little bit, even when I’m in pain or things are hard, I smile to send my body the message, I’m so grateful to be alive right now and I know what a privilege that is.”

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