30-01-2025
Ex-world champs among 14 figure skaters dead in US mid-air collision
Fourteen figure skaters are among those killed in the mid-air collision between a passenger plane and a military helicopter in Washington, the chief executive of the Skate Club of Boston, Dough Zeghibe, said during a press conference on Thursday.
Six of the victims were from the Boston club, including "two coaches, two teenage athletes and the athletes' mothers," he said.
Russian state news agency TASS had previously reported that 1994 world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among the victims. The duo had most recently been working as coaches at the Boston Club and Zeghibe confirmed that they had been killed in the collision.
Zeghibe, visibly moved, called the incident a "pretty horrific tragedy."
He said the skaters, the athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from a national development camp for top young figure skaters held in conjunction with the US figure skating championships in Wichita, Kansas.
Shishkova and Naumov became world champions in pairs in 1994. The couple had been working as coaches for the Boston club since 2017. Their son, Maxim Naumov, also competed in the US championships in Wichita, but he was not on the flight, Zeghibe said.
