After losing part of her leg in a 2023 shark attack, Ali Truwit discovered reserves of strength she didn’t know she possessed. One year later, she was a two-time Paralympic silver medalist. Now she is swimming toward LA28 with a message for anyone facing the seemingly impossible.

(This is part one of a two-part story based on a Forbes exclusive interview with Ali Truwit on August 27, 2026. All quotes are taken directly from a transcript of the interview.)

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There are moments in life when we discover something about ourselves that we never wanted to know. For Ali Truwit, that moment came in May 2023. She had just graduated from Yale, where she had been an accomplished swimmer. Her college career was behind her; As a bright, beautiful student athlete from an Ivy League university she had every reason to be optimistic and excited about the next chapter.

Disaster

Then, while snorkeling in Turks and Caicos with her former Yale swimming teammate and close friend Sophie Pilkinton, a shark attacked. Truwit lost her foot and part of her leg. In an instant, the future she had imagined was replaced by a question that was far more immediate:

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What happens now?

Nearly three and a half years later, that question has produced an answer that would have seemed impossible in those dark days following the attack: Truwit soon returned to elite swimming. She became a member of Team USA. She won two silver medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. And she created a nonprofit called Stronger Than You Think, a name that is much more than an organization. Ali will tell you it’s a philosophy of her life.

Bigger Than Swimming

When I spoke with Truwit on August 27, 2026, she was in Southern California preparing for three races: the 100-meter freestyle, the 400-meter freestyle and the 100-meter backstroke. The conversation was about swimming. But it was ultimately about something much bigger. It was about discovering strength you don’t know you have until life requires you to find it. Before the shark attack, swimming had been a defining part of Truwit’s identity.

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At Yale, she was a distance swimmer. Her specialty included the 1,650-yard freestyle—the swimming equivalent of a mile. When I joked with her about her choice of distance races being suffering events, she laughed. “Yes,” she said. Her mother was also a swimmer and encouraged her to try sprinting.

“But I was like, my arms just don’t move that fast,” Truwit said.

So she gravitated toward distance. It turned out to be useful preparation for life. Because endurance would become one of her greatest assets. Not just physical endurance.

Emotional endurance. Psychological endurance. The ability to keep moving when the finish line is a long ways off.

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When Swimming Became Something Else

The months after the attack were about survival and rehabilitation. Walking had to be relearned. Her relationship with her body had changed. The future was uncertain. And swimming, the activity that had been so familiar for so many years, momentarily may have seemed like something that belonged to her old life.

Then Truwit did something important. She went back to a swim meet. About three and a half months after losing her leg, she asked her parents to take her to a Paralympic swimming competition. She wasn’t there because she knew what her future would be. She was there to see what might still be possible.

Could she do this? Could she still swim? Could she compete again?

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The answer unfolded one baby step at a time. At the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Trials, Truwit swam the 100-meter backstroke in 1:08.98—faster than her previous best time before the shark attack. The impossible was becoming measurable.

Stronger Than You Think

There is a tendency to describe extraordinary athletes as if they possessed superhuman traits. Truwit’s story suggests something more human. Strength is revealed not when you know you can do something; Sometimes strength means trying when you don’t know.

The first swim wasn’t proof that she would make Team USA. The first race wasn’t proof that she would win a Paralympic medal. The first step with a prosthetic wasn’t proof that she would eventually run a marathon. Each step simply made the next step a little more imaginable. That is the deeper meaning behind Stronger Than You Think. You don’t necessarily discover your strength before adversity. Sometimes adversity introduces you to it.

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The 2024 Paris Olympics

Just one year after losing her leg, Truwit would become a Paralympian.

At Paris 2024, she won silver medals in the 100-meter backstroke and 400-meter freestyle and set American records in both S10 events. The transformation was extraordinary.

But the medals were simply the result of Ali committing to a process one baby step at a time. Every rehabilitation session. Every swim. Every difficult morning. Every time she had to confront something that her mind told her might be too hard.

Keep going.

Learning To Celebrate Little Successes

That lesson is one Truwit now wants other people to understand. During our conversation, she emphasized the importance of celebrating partial success on the way to a larger goal. It sounds simple. But it is one of the most difficult things for high achievers to do.

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We tend to measure ourselves against the final objective. Did we win?

Truwit’s experience has taught her to notice something else. Progress. The small victories are not distractions from the goal. They are how the goal is reached. Each one creates evidence that another step is possible.

The Marathon

Swimming was not the only place Truwit discovered that she was stronger than she thought. Running became another test. Ten days before the shark attack, she had completed a marathon with her mother. After losing her leg, running again seemed unimaginable. But eventually she learned to run with a prosthetic blade. Then, less than two years after the attack, she entered the New York City Marathon on November 2, 2025.

She would finish in 4:14:34.

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And, consistent with the philosophy that increasingly defines her life, the race wasn’t simply about her. She used the marathon to raise approximately $250,000 for Stronger Than You Think. A woman who had once wondered how she would walk again was now running 26.2 miles to help someone else.

Toward Los Angeles

Now Truwit is swimming again. The 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles are less than two years away. For an athlete, that means another training cycle. Another opportunity.

But LA28 represents something more for Truwit.

The Games will take place in the country she represents, in a region where millions of people will have an opportunity to see Paralympic athletes up close. And Truwit understands the importance of that visibility. Because somebody once had to show her what was possible. Now she has an opportunity to do the same for someone else. When she dives into the pool in Los Angeles, the story will not simply be about a swimmer who lost part of her leg. It will be about an athlete who discovered it is all about how we choose to see our lives including our limitations.

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Time To Train

At the end of our conversation, Truwit was looking forward. Next year’s World Championships will be an important milestone. Then comes more training. More races. More work.

“We’re under two years out now,” she told me. “Time to put my head down and train hard.”

Truwit isn’t promising that everything will be easy. She isn’t claiming that adversity doesn’t hurt. And she also isn’t suggesting that determination magically erases tragedy. She is simply saying: Keep going. Celebrate the little successes along the way. Choose gratitude.

And remain open to the possibility that you are stronger than you think.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

Bukayo Saka scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Aston Villa.

The Gunners had to work hard for the three points, with Villa defending well for long periods before Saka finally broke the deadlock in the second half.

Saka was one of Arsenal’s best players on the night and received a rating of 8/10 from BBC Sport, alongside left-back Riccardo Calafiori, who also earned an 8 after providing the assist for the winning goal.

Calafiori was praised for his attacking contribution, while Saka was described as a key player for Arsenal despite the team not being at their best going forward.

Arsenal captain Gabriel Magalhaes also impressed, earning 7/10 as he helped the visitors keep a clean sheet.

Young midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly continued his strong start to the season with another composed display and was rated 7/10.

David Raya, Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz all received 6/10.

Christos Tzolis had a difficult evening for Villa and was given the lowest starting-player rating of 4/10 after struggling to make an impact before being replaced at half-time.

Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, making his debut after his £30m move from Parma, impressed with his passing and earned 7/10.

Boubacar Kamara and 19-year-old George Hemmings also received 7/10 for their performances.

New Villa signing Nicolas Jackson, who arrived for £65m, was rated 6/10. The forward showed some promising moments but was unable to find the equaliser.

For Arsenal, Eberechi Eze made a positive impact after coming on at half-time and was rated 7/10.

The result gives Arsenal an important three points, while Villa will feel they deserved more after making life difficult for the visitors for much of the match.

With a plethora of options for Australia’s elite short-course gallopers this weekend, Sydney trainer Matthew Smith is keen to capitalise on the opportunities for his top two 1000-metre horses.

Headwall is being prepared to defend his Concorde Stakes title at Randwick. Concurrently, Smith’s preference is to send Way To The Stars to Melbourne to contest the Moir Stakes.

However, Way To The Stars’ eligibility for the $750,000 Group 1 event at Sandown is subject to the prevailing weather conditions.

Following unplaced runs in the July Sprint (1100m) and Missile Stakes (1200m), Way To The Stars showed his form with a victory in a 1045m trial at Randwick last Friday. Smith is hopeful that this recent race fitness will prove beneficial on Saturday.

“We had a plan with him, give him an 11 and 12 (hundred-metre race) get him as fit as we could and send him down there and see what happens,” Smith commented.

“We might catch some of those out first-up, but he’d need to get the right track condition.

“He’ll probably go if it’s not too wet.”

Way To The Stars, a son of Reward For Effort, has a record of two wins and three placings from ten starts on Soft tracks, but has recorded six of his eight career victories on Good tracks.

Sandown’s track was rated a Soft 7 on Monday morning. Although no significant rainfall is forecast for Melbourne this week, there is a possibility of showers each day from Tuesday through to race day.

Fair conditions are anticipated in Sydney throughout the week. Smith is excited about Headwall’s return to racing, his first start since winning the $1 million Concorde Stakes last year, which this year will be run at Group 2 level for the first time.

The seven-year-old sustained a pastern injury soon after his last victory, leading to him being sidelined last spring. Nevertheless, he has undergone an extensive preparation for his return and performed well in two trials during August.

“It’s going to be a really good race, but he’s going as good as what he was last year going into the race and he’s been in work for a while, he’s fit and well,” Smith added.

Betting markets are already heating up for this major sprint contest at online bookmakers.

Racing over 1000 metres is not a completely new distance for Tempted, but the star mare will be tackling it for the first time in a while this upcoming weekend.

The Ciaron Maher-trained four-year-old is set to resume her campaign in the $1 million Group 2 Concorde Stakes at Randwick, which will represent only her second start over the 1000-metre trip.

Her sole previous outing at this distance was a winning debut in a two-year-old fillies maiden at Warwick Farm. Prior to that, her only other race shorter than 1200m was a narrow second place to The Playwright in the 1100m Group 3 Widden Stakes at her second career start.

Eight of her ten subsequent starts have been at 1200m, a distance considered her preferred trip. However, her two trials this preparation, held over 900m and 822m, have led Maher to believe she will possess sufficient sharpness to win this Saturday.

“She’s a sharp filly, very sharp,” Maher stated.

“It certainly wouldn’t surprise me (if she won), without knowing what’s there but, knowing her, she’s pretty sharp.”

Tempted was one of 20 entries for the Concorde Stakes, with defending champion Headwall, Beadman, Marhoona, and Mazu leading the list of possible rivals.

The Concorde Stakes is the initial step on a path towards the 1200m The Everest for Tempted, who finished second to Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising in last year’s $20 million event, beating all other competitors.

The daughter of Street Boss has been undefeated since that race, winning the Group 1 Surround Stakes (1400m) and the Group 3 Eskimo Prince Stakes and Arrowfield Stakes, both at 1200m. Maher is keen for her to confirm her status as Godolphin’s leading contender for The Everest.

“I suppose there’s a little bit to take place, we haven’t even run the Concorde yet, so there’s a bit to play out in the three-year-olds as some of them could step out,” Maher commented.

“But she’s very good. I’m rapt with her. Her prep so far has gone smoothly and if she lines up in the sort of form she’s in, I’m sure she’ll run very well.”

Maher indicated that Tempted is likely to target the Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on October 3, following this Saturday’s race, with The Everest to be run a fortnight later. With Tempted resuming over a shorter distance, the online bookmakers are anticipating a strong performance.

The New York Yankees recorded a blowout win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, beating their arch-rivals 16-1. Along with the players, it seems the Red Sox radio announcers also got extremely frustrated with the events on the field.

In the eighth inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. stole second and third base while Austin Wells was batting, even though the Bronx Bombers were up by six already.

Frustrated by the late stolen bases, which violated baseball’s ‘unwritten rules,’ WEEI play-by-play announcer Will Flemming labeled Chisholm “bush-league” and suggested Red Sox pitcher Jovani Morán should “drill” or throw at Wells in retaliation.

Flemming drew intense criticism for his controversial comments in the aftermath of the game. He posted to X on Monday, apologizing for his statements.

“Since I have been receiving nonstop calls and threats, I felt like it was important to hop back on here and say: My comments during yesterday’s broadcast crossed a line. I’m emotional and a fan at heart and that bled into the broadcast.”

“I meant no disrespect to the Yankees players or organization. I could and should have used different words. These rivalry games get me fired up; I apologize for letting the emotion of the moment get the best of me,” Flemming wrote.

Reacting, fans seemed to have varying opinions. Some continued to take shots at Will Flemming, claiming he should be held accountable for his controversial comments.

“You should be fired. Violence is unacceptable. Grow up,” a fan wrote.

“You deserve to lose your job bro not even the Yankees announcers talk trash not even a bit to the Red Sox,” another fan commented.

“Apology NOT accepted!” another fan replied.

Others, meanwhile, sympathized with announcer.

“We all get heated; good on you to say so. Shame on those threatening you. That’s ridiculous,” a fan responded.

“Respect, Will,” another fan shared.

“There is no need for you to apologize. It’s baseball,” another fan posted.

Yankees starting pitcher makes feelings clear about Red Sox announcer’s apology

Soon after Will Flemming posted his apology to X, popular content page “Talkin’ Yanks” posted about it to Instagram.

Along with hundreds of fans, Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler also made his feelings clear on the matter, summing his thoughts up with a single emoji.

“🤡,” Cam Schlittler commented.

Having won the series against the Red Sox over the weekend, the Yankees take on the LA Angels in Anaheim for their next challenge.