NORWOOD, Mass. — Two teenage figure skaters, their mothers and two world champion coaches from Boston were among the 14 members of the skating community killed when an American Airlines flight collided with an Army helicopter Wednesday night and crashed into the frigid waters of the Potomac River.
Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe said Thursday that skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, along with 1994 pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. In all, 14 of the victims were coming back from a national development camp following the U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas, Zeghibe said.
“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,” Zeghibe said. “This will have long-reaching impacts for our skating community.”
The Kremlin also confirmed that Shishkova and Naumov were aboard. They moved to the U.S. and became coaches, first at the International Skating Center in Connecticut and since 2017 at the Boston club that has served as a training ground for world-class skaters since 1912.
Among their students is their 23-year-old son, Maxim, a former U.S. junior champion. He has finished fourth at senior nationals the past three years, narrowly missing the podium Sunday while his parents watched at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita; he flew home Monday with Zeghibe.
“We are heartbroken to learn that figure skaters, along with their families, friends and coaches, are understood to be among those on board,” U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.
“Figure skating is more than a sport — it’s a close-knit family — and we stand together.”
People affiliated with the Skating Club of Boston were involved in the plane crash. The club identified skaters Jinna Ha & Spencer Lane; also coaches Evgenia Shishkova & Vadim Naumov. https://t.co/Dcl2wWsPE9 pic.twitter.com/JJIn18Iykn
— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) January 30, 2025
Sixty passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines flight and three soldiers aboard a training flight on the Blackhawk helicopter are presumed dead after the collision in Washington on Wednesday night. There was no immediate cause identified, but officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet coming from Wichita was making a routine landing when the helicopter flew into its path.
“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital, said in an update Thursday morning. “We don’t believe there are any survivors.”
The Skating Club of Boston, which is set to host the world championships in March, is among the best-known clubs in the world, producing two Olympic gold medalists and even more world champions. Among them have been two-time Olympic champion Dick Button, Olympic gold medalist Tenley Albright, two-time Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan and Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie.
The club sent 18 skaters to Wichita, including Jimmy Ma, who finished fifth at the U.S. championships on Sunday.
Lane was the 2025 intermediate eastern sectionals champion, and had become popular among the skating community on social media, where he has thousands of TikTok followers. On Wednesday, he had posted a video showing him doing a triple toe loop to wrap up the development camp.
“I am so happy to have qualified for national development camp earlier in November. It has been my goal almost ever since I became aware that it was a thing. I learned so much new information that I can apply to my everyday life, and met so many amazing people,” Lane had said in an Instagram post Wednesday.
He later posted a photo of him aboard the plane just before it departed from Wichita.
For the Boston club, the accident was an eerie reminder of a 1961 plane crash that killed the entire U.S. delegation en route to the world championships in Prague. The world championships were canceled that year out of respect for the American team killed in the crash.
“Almost half of everybody on board that plane were from this club,” Zeghibe said. “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. It’s been a long time in redeveloping it, and I personally feel that this club is Boston has just now, almost 60 years later, been coming out of the shadow of that 1961 crash.”
The European championships are taking place this week in Tallinn, Estonia. They were expected to continue as scheduled.
“The International Skating Union and the global skating community are deeply shocked by the tragic accident involving an American Airlines flight in Washington, D.C. We are heartbroken to learn that figure skaters, along with their families, friends, and coaches, are understood to be among those on board,” the ISU said in a statement. “We remain in close contact with U.S. Figure Skating and offer our full support during this incredibly difficult time.”
Zeghibe said the club was proceeding with plans to host worlds at the TD Garden from March 25-30. In the lobby of the club’s new facility, which was built to replace the century-old barn that was a founding member of U.S. Figure Skating.