At World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, joy mixes with grief

Boston Globe

28-03-2025

Ma's critique came Thursday afternoon at the
The championships, which run through Sunday at the Boston arena, is an elite, international showcase for Ma's sport. It also comes at a challenging time of mourning and loss for the place where Ma has trained for five years — the Norwood-based The Skating Club of Boston — as well as the wider skating community.
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In late January, the club lost six people from its community when an
The six with connections to the Norwood club would have likely been in Boston for the championships this week. It's a reality not lost on those who knew them, such as Ma, a New York City native who moved to Norwood to train at the club.
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'The best thing that we could do is to keep moving forward,' he said. 'Moving on sounds bad, but the departed wouldn't want us to sit around and not do anything.'
The throughline for the six who died in the crash, said Ma, was a passion for the sport.
'They would want the skating world to continue to flourish,' he said.
Doug Zeghibe, the executive director for the club, which was the local organizing committee for the world championships, concurred.
'This event helps in the cycle of healing because it's something we can celebrate, it's something we can come together and share in a more positive way,' said Zeghibe on Thursday. 'It's one more stepping stone along the way.'
Doug Zeghibe, executive director of The Skating Club of Boston, spoke to Danny McDonald of The Boston Globe during the men's short program in the World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
On Thursday, he was not at TD Garden, as he was watching a federal hearing regarding the crash that took the lives of his wife and son. Over the phone, he said he could forgive past mistakes that led to the crash, but would not abide by any lack of transparency regarding the federal investigation into the accident. He found some answers from federal officials regarding the crash to be shocking or unsatisfactory and some information that lawmakers had requested was not produced, he said.
Being at the world championships this week evoked mixed emotions in Lane. Spencer had been chosen as an awards presenter at the competitions and even been fitted for a costume. Lane and his wife, Christine, had planned on being in the crowd to watch him hand out medals to skaters.
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'Thinking about that was hard,' he said.
Still, participating in the tribute offered something akin to a salve, he said.
'It felt good to put a spotlight on some of the other people who were affected,' he said. 'It's definitely more helpful than not.'
Inside TD Garden, Ma also reflected on those who were killed from his club. He knew them all. The Hans, he said were a 'Hallmark photo of what a family should be.' They were always together and Jinna worked hard at skating. When he first met her, she was still shaky with her double jumps, but within two years, she was landing triple-triple combinations.
'She loved it,' he said. 'Nothing was going to stop her from doing her from doing her best.'
Spencer Lane, he said, 'had talent in spades,' and developed quickly as a skater.
'This dude was insane,' he said of Lane's ability.
Han was in Wichita, Kan., just like those who died in the plane crash, but he had left on a different flight. Multiple people texted him in the aftermath of the crash asking if he was OK. He shakes his head. Left unspoken is the dark what-if: anyone could have been on that flight.
'It's hard,' he said. 'It puts a different perspective on things.'
Amidst the talk of death and anguish, the crowd is buoyant. They cheer when the skaters land jumps and gasp when they spill. The flags among the spectators drive home the international flavor of the event. There are banners from Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Mexico, and Canada, and plenty of stars and stripes.
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Like many of those who were killed in the plane crash, Ma's life revolves around this sport. During his season, he trains six days a week. He's well-known enough that a fan recognizes him in the bowels of the arena. He's been skating since he was a child, and he says his mind is calm only when he skates and when he cooks. He suspects that feeling of blankness is what appeals to him about what he does professionally.
He knows many of the competitors here, having competed against them for years. Some he faced in recent months in far-flung locales, including
What does it take to consistently land quadruples, he's asked. He laughs.
'A lot of (expletive) training,' he said.
Making the difficult look easy is a central challenge to a figure skater, he said. He talks about having a 'good flow' out there on the ice.
'It's incredibly athletic, some of the things you have to do no human is designed to do that,' he said. 'There's a huge artistic aspect of it as well.'
Ma said before the plane crash, he was laser-focused on qualifying for the Olympics. But the tragedy changed his outlook. He now concentrates on making the audience feel something and to make himself feel something out on the ice.
'I'm not doing it for the goal,' he said. 'I'm going to do it for the journey.'
Danny McDonald can be reached at