A tragic midair collision between an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk military helicopter claimed the lives of several individuals tied to the world of figure skating.
The crash, which occurred Wednesday night near Washington, D.C., has left the global skating community in mourning, as no survivors were found.
“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 organization stated.
On January 30, 2025, emergency responders were seen evaluating the wreckage of the airplane in the Potomac River close to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.
The flight, which had originated from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a helicopter while nearing the airport.
The passengers aboard the ill-fated flight included a married pair of skating champions, two young athletes, and their mothers, as confirmed by the Skating Club of Boston. While U.S.Figure Skating has yet to release the full list of victims, the loss reverberates deeply throughout the skating world.
This tragedy has evoked painful memories of a similar disaster in 1961, when 73 people, including 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team, lost their lives in a plane crash while on their way to the world championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
That event, which claimed the lives of athletes and coaches alike, left an indelible mark on the U.S. figure skating community.
Among the victims of this recent crash were Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, a beloved Russian pair who became iconic figures in the 1990s. Shishkova and Naumov later moved to the U.S., where they coached and raised their son, Maxim Naumov, a 23-year-old skater who had recently earned fourth place at the 2025 U.S. figure skating championships.
Maxim, who competed in the championships last weekend, was coached by his parents and represented the Skating Club of Boston, which also lost several members in the crash.
This tragic loss will surely affect the upcoming World Figure Skating Championships in March, set to be held in Boston.
Among those lost were two promising young athletes, Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, along with their mothers, Jin Han and Christine Lane, as reported by the Skating Club of Boston.
Jinna Han had passed U.S. Figure Skating’s highest-level skills test with honours in 2023, and Spencer Lane had recently won the Eastern Sectional competition in the intermediate division.
The National Development Camp, which these young skaters attended following the U.S. Championships, was an opportunity for them to work with top coaches and athletes.
“So this is U.S. figure skating’s future,” said CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan. “These are the young teenagers we would expect to rise and compete in the 2030 Winter Olympic Games.”
The figure skating community is once again grappling with the loss of rising stars, whose dreams of representing the U.S. in international competitions and the Olympics were tragically cut short.
This echoes the loss felt after the 1961 crash, which also devastated the sport.
In memory of those lost in the 1961 disaster, U.S. Figure Skating established a memorial fund, which has provided over $20 million in financial assistance to athletes for skating-related and academic expenses.
Now, once again, the sport faces a calamity of similar magnitude, severing the hopes and dreams of young athletes and coaches who were poised to contribute to the future of U.S. figure skating.
