Perhaps a dozen or more elite figure skaters were onboard the American Eagle flight that collided midair with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday night, officials said.
Those athletes had been participating in a development camp in Wichita, Kansas, targeting promising young skaters, Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe said.
“To the best of our knowledge, 14 skaters returning home … were lost in the plane crash,” Zeghibe told reporters in Norwood, Massachusetts. “It’s a major loss for our skating community.”
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Six victims of Wednesday’s tragedy were affiliated with Skating Club of Boston, two coaches, two skaters and two mothers, according to Zeghibe.
The skaters were identified by the club as Spencer Lane and Jinna Han and their moms, Christine Lane and Jin Han.
Officials said those two coaches were former Russian world champions, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
“These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships,” according to a statement from the sport’s American governing organization, U.S. Figure Skating. “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts.”
It was not immediately clear how many U.S. skaters were onboard American Eagle Flight 5342, which was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, according to the airline’s parent company, American Airlines.
The 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championship, which serves as the final qualifier for the U.S. World and Junior Championship teams, concluded Sunday in Wichita and was immediately followed by the National Development Camp.
Russian world pairs figure skating champions, married couple Shishkova and Naumov, were also among the passengers, Russian state news agencies Tass and Ria Novosti first reported and Zeghibe later confirmed.
Shishkova, 52, and Naumov, 55, won the pairs figure skating event at the 1994 World Championship and had been living in the U.S. since 1998 following their retirement from competitive skating, according to Tass. They were working as coaches for skaters that included the Russian national team.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russian nationals were onboard but did not specify whether Shishkova and Naumov were on the flight.
“Bad news from Washington today,” Peskov told reporters in his daily news conference. “We grieve and console with the families and friends who lost those of our fellow citizens who died in this plane crash.”
Wednesday night’s tragedy evoked memories of the Feb. 15, 1961, crash that killed 18 members of the U.S. world figure skating team.
Sixteen coaches and family members of those skaters were killed when Sabena Flight 548, traveling from New York City to Brussels, crashed in Zaventem Airport.
The party was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague.
Zeghibe said the U.S. figure skating community is still feeling the impact of that tragedy six decades later.
“Almost half of everybody on board that plane (in 1961) were from this club. It had long, long reaching implications for the skating club and for the sport in this country, because when you lose coaches like this, you lose the future of the sport as well,” Zeghibe said.
“It’s been a long time in redeveloping it. I personally feel that this club, the Skating Club of Boston, has just now, almost sixty years later, been coming out of the shadow of that 1961 crash. So this is particularly devastating.”
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