Ali Truwit Hopes to See This Fellow SI Swimsuit Model on the Cover Someday

The Paralympic swimmer also got candid about nerves and making her runway debut during 2025 Swim Week.

Ali Truwit / Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images

Ali Truwit’s powerful 2025 SI Swimsuit feature was immediately followed by an equally exciting moment—her runway debut at the brand’s annual Swim Week show in Miami, Fla. The 25-year-old Paralympic swimmer walked with purpose and poise, marking two major milestones: her birthday and the second anniversary of her leg amputation.

Ali Truwit / John Parra/Getty Images

Truwit—who survived a shark attack in 2023 just days after graduating from Yale University—decided to amputate her leg below the knee, but was back in the water within a month. Since then, she’s become a two-time Paralympic silver medalist, founded a nonprofit to support girls with limb loss and made history as the third amputee to appear in the SI Swimsuit franchise.

The Connecticut native posed for Ben Horton in Boca Raton, Fla., for her 2025 photo shoot, joining nine other trailblazing elite female athletes in the magazine.

Ali Truwit was photographed by Ben Horton in Boca Raton. Swimsuit by Two Fish Swim. / Ben Horton/Sports

We caught up with Truwit ahead of the runway show to talk nerves, empowering the next generation of women and athletes and who she’d love to see on the next SI Swimsuit cover.

Walking the runway in front of hundreds of spectators, wearing a bikini and her prosthetic was no small feat. But for Truwit, it was deeply personal and symbolic.

“Two years ago tomorrow, it was my 23rd birthday and the date of my amputation,” she tells SI Swimsuit. “So now to fast forward two years, and it’s my 25th birthday and I’m getting not only to walk, but walk and represent individuals with disabilities and Paralympians and female athletes down a runway, that’s so special for me.”

Ellie Thumann, Ilona Maher and Ali Truwit / Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated

When asked who she’d love to see on the cover next, Truwit answers without hesitation: Ellie Thumann. The 23-year-old content creator—who is best known for her lifestyle, fashion and beauty vlog-style content on YouTube—made her SI Swimsuit debut in Puerto Rico in 2023 and has cntinued to impress the team year after year.

Truwit gushes that beyond Thumann’s impeccable beauty, undeniable face card and modeling talent, she’s also one of the kindest people she’s met throughout this experience.

Ellie Thumann was photographed by Ben Watts in Bermuda. Swimsuit by SAME. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

“Ellie has been so amazing,” she says. “She’s been such a great friend for me as I navigate all this newness.”

Thumann posed for Yu Tsai in Mexico for her sophomore feature last year and traveled to Bermuda with Ben Watts for her 2025 return to the fold.

Truwit also shares that she’d love to see another Paralympian on the cover one day. “That would be iconic. As we continue celebrating beauty in all bodies, what a statement that would be. But honestly, all these girls are stunning and beautiful. I could list everyone, and it would be a great answer.”

Ali Truwit / Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images/Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

As Truwit continues to break barriers in both sports and media, she keeps one phrase at the center of everything she does: stronger than you think.

It’s the name of her nonprofit, and the belief system she’s built her comeback on. With every step, every swim and every strut down the runway, she’s reminding girls everywhere—especially those who have never seen themselves represented in this space before—that power comes in many forms, and beauty never has just one definition.

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