Skaters killed in plane crash were Olympic hopefuls, peers say: 'Absolutely remarkable'
Emotions were running high at The Skating Club of Boston Thursday after six people with ties to the organization died in a plane crash near Reagan International Airport Wednesday night.
Among those who spoke were Olympic silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan, who couldn't hold back tears while talking about the crash.
President Donald Trump said there were no survivors after an American Airlines jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.
The plane was carrying 64 people, among them teenage skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, their mothers Jin Han and Christine Lane and their coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
Three members of The Skating Club of Boston — Misha Mitrofanov, Jimmy Ma and Alisa Efimova — also spoke of their peers, who they say were the next generation of hopeful U.S. Olympians.
"The potential that they showed on the ice and the capabilities they had at such a young age showed that they had promise for the future of this sport," Mitrofanov, whose partner is Efimova, told reporters Thursday.
Mitrofanov and Efimova had just won the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, in the pairs discipline. That's where the American Airlines flight was coming from. Han and Lane were returning from a developmental camp over the weekend.
"The camp basically brings them in for the championships so that they can watch, for example, Jimmy, or at least an ice skate at a championship level," Mitrofanov said. "Afterwards, they are part of a fairly strict routine. ... Lot of training, lots of drills and exercises that the U.S. Figure Skating wants to see."
Han, 13, and Lane, 16, were chosen for the developmental camp because of the promise they showed, and Ma was blunt about just how promising these two skaters were.
"Absolutely phenomenal," Ma said. "If I was their age back when I was their age, they would blow me out of the water. Even Jinna, at 13 years old, I couldn't do anything. She was already 10 times better than me at such a young age.
"They showed championship-level skating. It would take time for them to develop to maximize their full potential. But the amount they were able to achieve in such a short amount of time was absolutely remarkable."
Efimova said the campers were spotted in the crowd in the red jackets they would wear, and as she worked along with Mitrofanov to win in pairs, she used their cheering as motivation.
"They all have these red jackets, so you can really, really identify this community during the competition, which helps me personally a lot to bring a lot of joy into skating," Efimova said.
Ma also pointed out how great Shishkova and Naumov, winners at the 1994 world championships in pairs while competing in two Olympic Games, were as coaches.
"Their meticulousness in developing young skaters is almost unparalleled," Ma explained. "You could tell by their son, Max, who I consider not just a friend, but a fierce competitor. I look at him every day, I'm like, 'Damn, I got to do better.' That was all them."
The Skating Club of Boston wasn't the only figure skating community that was hit by this. The Philadelphia Skating Club & Humane Society posted on social media that "beloved members" of its team were on the flight. Skating coach Alexandr Kirsanov and two of his youth skaters were also aboard the fight, according to Kirsanov's wife, per ABC News.
"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.," U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement. "We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts."
As the figure skating world and others affected by the crash mourn the losses of loved ones, Mitrofanov said skaters will continue to train and compete with their "family" in mind.
"Watching these kids skate and watching their fire and love for the sport, that's what helped us to, honestly, continue training," Mitrofanov said. "Watching these kids develop helps us want to push ourselves as well. It's a two-way street that they look up to us, but we also look up to them."
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