Long-distance swimmer Steven Robles survived being attacked by a 7-foot great white shark while he was training in Southern California waters on Saturday.
Robles, 50, was with more than a dozen other swimmers when the predator surfaced.
"He made a very sharp left and lunged right at my chest," Robles said in an interview with KTLA5. "I was staring eyeball to eyeball with the shark."
Robles said he felt a crunch going right into his chest and thought "that was it." But Robles fought back. He pushed the shark's nose and the animal immediately released its grasp, he said.
In cellphone footage from the incident, you can hear people from shore screaming for swimmers to get out of the water once the shark is spotted.
Sharks don't generally attack people on purpose. This juvenile great white was "apparently agitated" after it had been hooked by a fisherman, CNN reported. The shark was "struggling for its life for the previous half hour before the attack on Robles."
Robles was released from the hospital on Sunday and he is now recovering at home.
See an interview with Robles in this clip from KTLA5:
Shark attacks
