Thursday, January 30th 2025, 6:39 pm
The ice-skating community is devastated after learning elite ice skaters, coaches and families perished in a plane crash in Washington D.C. Wednesday night. American Airlines Flight 5342 crashed when it collided midair with an Army Black Hawk helicopter. All 67 people on both aircraft died. News of the crash hit home in Oklahoma City.
“Our hearts are just broken,” said Jackie Brenner, the Director of Figure Skating Operations in Oklahoma City. “We all know one another or know of one another.”
Authorities confirm two skaters, 16-year-old Spencer Lane and 13-year-old Jinna Han, along with their mothers, died. Married World Figure Skating Champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov also perished. The group was among others who had just attended a National Development camp in Wichita following the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Brenner attended the coaches’ workshop on Sunday ahead of the camp.
“The energy in the rink of all the incoming National Team Development athletes and coaches and parents and everyone was excited and yelling 'oh gosh it's good to see you' and hugging each other,” Brenner said. “It was so super palpable and memorable.”
The Arctic Edge Ice Arena decided to hold this weekend's winter camp and plans to honor the lives lost, possibly with a moment of silence. However, the exact plan is still being worked out. The camp will include 140 ice skaters from 12 states and world and Olympic coaches on staff.
“Our hearts are absolutely there for all of these families that are affected,” Brenner said. “More than anything, we’re all in this together.”
U.S. figure skating suffered a previous loss in 1961 when a deadly plane crash killed the US world skating team.
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