According to officials, the American Eagle flight that collided in midair with a U.S. Army Black Hawk chopper and plunged into the Potomac River on Wednesday night contained at least a dozen professional figure skaters.
According to Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston, the athletes had been taking part in a U.S. Figure Skating development camp in Wichita, Kansas, which was aimed at young skaters with promise.
Zeghibe told reporters in Norwood, Massachusetts, “As far as we know, 14 skaters who were going home… were lost in the plane crash.” “It s a major loss for our skating community.”
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According to Zeghibe, six victims—two skaters, two coaches, and two mothers—were connected to the Skating Club of Boston.
The club’s teenagers, Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, along with their mothers, Christine Lane and Jin Han, identified the skaters.
The two coaches, according to officials, were Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, past Russian world champions.
This incident devastated the close-knit Boston skating community.
Nancy Kerrigan, a resident of Stoneham and a two-time Olympic medalist who took home silver in 1994 and bronze in 1992, sobbed as she considered the deaths.
Kerrigan sobbed as she told reporters in Norwood, “I’m not sure how to process it, like everyone here has been saying.” I’m here because I’m sorry.
The number of U.S. skaters aboard American Eagle Flight 5342, which was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, was not immediately known, according to American Airlines, the airline’s parent business.
The National Development Camp immediately followed the conclusion of the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championship, the last qualifying event for the U.S. World and Junior Championship teams, in Wichita on Sunday.
Russian state news outlets TassandRia Novosti initially stated and Zeghibe subsequently confirmed that the passengers included married couple Shishkova and Naumov, the Russian world pairs figure skating champions.
According to Tass, Shishkova, 52, and Naumov, 55, have been residing in the United States since 1998 after retiring from competitive skating and winning the pairs event at the 1994 World Championship. The Russian national team was among the skaters they were coaching.
The tragedy on Wednesday night brought up memories of the collision that killed eighteen members of the U.S. world figure skating team on February 15, 1961.
Sabena Flight 548, which was en route from New York City to Brussels, crashed at Zaventem Airport, killing sixteen coaches and the skaters’ relatives.
The group was traveling to Prague for the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships.
Legendary skater Tenley Albright, who took home the gold in 1956, said the tragedy on Wednesday reminded her of the close call she had with being on that 1961 flight.
“Yes,” Albright replied Thursday, “there were actually twenty-two of my friends on that plane in 1961 on their way to the world championships.” Since I was in my final year of medical school, I was unable to go, but I’m sure I would have gone to support them. And I recall that years later, I was the object of odd stares. They thought, “Were you not on that plane?” while they discussed it. Additionally, I wish those on that plane weren’t. And I’m not sure how to deal with this.
Six decades later, Zeghibe remarked, the tragedy’s effects are still being felt by the American figure skating community.
“This group accounted for about half of all the passengers on that plane in 1961. Because losing coaches like this also means losing the sport’s future, it has far-reaching effects on the skating club and the sport in this nation, Zeghibe added.
“Redeveloping it has taken a long time. In my opinion, the Skating Club of Boston has only just, nearly sixty years later, begun to emerge from the aftermath of that 1961 accident. Thus, this is especially destructive.