Olympic skating hopefuls Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, and coaches Vadim Naumov and Yevgenia Shishkova, who received the 1994 World Championships in pairs, are among the many victims of the airplane crash in Washington DC
WASHINGTON, USA – The US skating group was in mourning on Thursday, January 30, after studying a number of the nation’s most promising younger determine skaters, in addition to mother and father and coaches, have been aboard an American Airways regional passenger airplane that crashed close to Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport.
The airplane, carrying 64 passengers and crew, was en path to Washington from Wichita, Kansas, on Wednesday, January 29, when it was concerned in a mid-air collision with a US Military helicopter. Officers stated they don’t consider there have been any survivors.
The game’s nationwide governing physique stated the athletes, coaches and relations on board the flight have been coming back from the Nationwide Improvement Camp held together with the US Determine Skating Championships, held this yr in Kansas.
“We’re devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and maintain the victims’ households carefully in our hearts,” it stated in a press release.
The precise variety of folks on board who have been concerned in determine skating, or had a member of the family who was a skater, was unsure, however media stories stated there have been not less than 14 on the flight.
“We’re devastated, and there are actually no phrases to seize the depth of our sorrow,” US Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland stated in a press release.
“These Olympic hopefuls represented the brilliant way forward for Workforce USA, embodying the very essence of what it means to symbolize our nation — perseverance, resilience, and hope.”
The Skating Membership of Boston stated it misplaced six people from its group: athlete Jinna Han and her mom, Jin Han, athlete Spencer Lane and his mom, Christine Lane, and coaches Vadim Naumov and Yevgenia Shishkova, often known as Genia.
Shishkova and Naumov, who have been married to one another, received the World Championships in pairs determine skating in 1994, and US media stated they’d lived in the US since not less than 1998, the place they educated younger ice skaters.
“Our sport and this membership have suffered a horrible loss with this tragedy. Skating is a tight-knit group the place mother and father and children come collectively for six or 7 days every week to coach and work collectively,” the Skating Membership of Boston stated in a press release.
“Everyone seems to be like household.”
Retired Olympian Nancy Kerrigan, who grew up in close by Stoneham, Massachusetts, instructed reporters on the Skating Membership of Boston, whose ice complicated is positioned in suburban Needham, that she was in shock over the information.
“The youngsters right here actually work onerous, their mother and father work onerous to be right here,” stated Kerrigan. “I really feel for the athletes, the skaters, their households, however anybody that was on that airplane — not simply the skaters.”
Spencer Lane, a 16-year-old from Barrington, Rhode Island, posted images and movies from the camp on his Instagram account hours earlier than the crash.
“I’m so completely satisfied to have certified for nationwide growth camp earlier in November, it has been my aim nearly ever since I grew to become conscious that it was a factor,” he wrote within the caption.
“I realized a lot new data that I can apply to my on a regular basis life, and met so many wonderful folks!”
{The teenager} later posted a photograph of an airplane wing to his Instagram story with the caption “ICT (to) DCA,” the airport codes for Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower Nationwide Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport.
Doug Zeghibe, government director of the Skating Membership of Boston, the place Naumov and Shishkova had coached since 2017, instructed native reporters that the pair have been devoted instructors.
Naumov “liked younger youngsters,” stated Zeghibe. “You couldn’t see Genia with out breaking right into a smile.”
Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater who competed for the Soviet Union, was additionally reported to have been on board, TASS stated. She was a coach on the Washington Determine Skating Membership, in accordance with its web site.
“We’re devastated to listen to the information of American Eagle flight 5342. Our ideas and prayers are with our skating household throughout this tough time,” Washington Determine Skating Membership stated in a press release.
US skaters took to social media to mourn the lack of life.
“I’m heartbroken by the tragic lack of my fellow skaters on this devastating accident,” 2024 males’s singles world champion Ilia Malinin stated. “The determine skating group is a household, and this loss is past phrases.” – Rappler.com
