figure skaters
Credit: (Screenshot), ABC 7 Chicago and WHAS11, via YouTubeCredit: (Screenshot), ABC 7 Chicago and WHAS11, via YouTube

The nation is in mourning today over yesterday’s American Airlines plane crash. On Wednesday night, an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. military helicopter in Washington D.C. at Reagan National Airport, killing all 64 people onboard the airplane as well as the three people aboard the helicopter.

Now, it’s tragically been revealed that fourteen U.S. figure skaters were aboard the doomed flight.

U.S. Figure Skaters Killed In Plane Crash

The American Airlines flight had departed from Wichita, Kansas and was about to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when the helicopter crashed into it above the Potomac River. The U.S. Figure Skating team confirmed to People Magazine that fourteen members of the team were onboard.

“U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C.,” the U.S. Figure Skating team said in a statement.

“These athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” the statement continued. “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”

The 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships had just been held in Wichita from January 20 to January 26.

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Skating Club Of Boston Loses Six Members

Six of the passengers were members of The Skating Club of Boston. They’ve been identified as teenagers Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, their mothers, Molly Lane and Jin Han, and two coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, former Russian world champions. Their deaths were confirmed by Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe.

“Skating is a very close and tight-knit community. These kids and their parents, they’re here at our facility in Norwood, six, sometimes seven days a week. It’s a close, tight bond,” an emotional Zeghibe told The Associated Press. “This will have long-reaching impacts for our skating community.”

“So I think for all of us, we have lost family,” he added.

Lane had posted a photo of the wing of the plane just before takeoff.

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Additional Skating Victims

Also on the flight was Inna Volyanskaya, 59, a former pair skater who competed for the Soviet Union. She was a coach for the team, according to the Washington Figure Skating Club website.

Victims Shishkova and Naumov won the World Championships in pairs skating back in 1994. They were in Wichita supporting their son and student, 23-year-old son, Maxim, a former U.S. junior champion who has finished fourth at senior nationals the past three years. On Sunday, he once again narrowly missed out on the podium as his parents looked on.

Maxim then flew home on Monday. His parents stayed two more days.

“He had no reason to stay at the national development camp,” Zeghibe said in his press briefing.

“Both of his parents were with him while he was competing. It’s well-known Mom was always too nervous to watch him skate,” Zeghibe continued before pausing to collect himself. “But his dad was with him, and Dad was in the ‘kiss-and-cry’ sharing his great performance.”

As more details about this tragedy come to light, please join us in saying a prayer for all the victims and their loved ones.

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