Latest news with #SeanKay
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Family, friends and community mourn skaters, mothers and coach killed in plane crash
Family, friends and members of Delaware's figure skating community paid their respects to five victims of a January plane crash at a funeral on Saturday morning in Newark. Eleven-year-old Sean Kay; his mother, Julia Kay; 11-year-old Angela Yang; her mother, Zheheng 'Lily' Li; and the skaters' coach, Alexandr "Sasha" Kirsanov, were killed in the plane crash near Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29. Sean Kay and Angela Kay were ice dancing partners who trained and performed together. Sean was described by U.S. Figure Skating as funny and outgoing, and Angela was described as a great friend to her teammates. Their mothers, Zheheng Li and Julia Kay, were traveling with them. Kirsanov was a former coach of the UD Figure Skating Club, whose championships decorate the walls of the Fred Rust Ice Arena. MORE ON THE KAY FAMILY: Days after mother, brother die in midair crash, Delaware skater's siblings return to rink The funeral was held inside the Fred Rust Ice Arena on the campus of the University of Delaware in Newark. Five caskets rested on stands next to each other on the ice in front of a large projector, which played pictures and videos of the victims on and off of the ice. It was the first funeral held in the arena. The public came and went as they wanted, sitting in the bleachers on one side of the arena. Families were in their own section of the arena. After the ceremony, the five people would be laid to rest at Gracelawn Memorial Park in Minquadale. Gary Irving, who lives in Elkton, Maryland, has coached Olympians and other figure skaters for decades. He said he had known Kirsanov since he was 16 and traveled the world with him. He said he was devastated to lose someone who was first a student and then a friend. "We traveled the world, partied hard, skated hard, trained hard," he said. "He's very talented, very passionate, and it was a great pleasure to teach him." EARLIER SERVICE: Delaware victims lost in Washington, D.C.-area crash remembered at memorial Julie Allford of Nottingham, Pennsylvania, skates recreationally in the arena and said she always saw Sean Kay and Angela Yang practicing on the ice. Allford and her children were also taught by Kirsanov and got to know him personally. She said that on the rare occasion that she would fall on the ice, he was always there to pick her back up. "Next time I'm back on the ice, it's going to be really weird to not have Sasha there," she said. The five plane crash victims were returning to the area from U.S. Figure Skating's National Development Camp in Wichita, Kansas. The crash was a mid-air collision over the Potomac River between an American Airlines flight from Wichita to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, and a military Black Hawk helicopter. All 64 people aboard the American Airlines flight were killed, and all three aboard the Black Hawk were also killed. MORE ON THE CRASH VICTIMS: Students, Olympic skaters, families and more. A tribute to lives lost in the DC plane crash This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Family, friends and community mourn loss of skaters, mothers and coach
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
American Airlines Crash: How U.S. Figure Skating Honored Victims
Originally appeared on E! Online U.S. Figure Skating is mourning an unimaginable loss. After 28 figure skaters, coaches and family members died on American Airlines flight 5342 to Washington, D.C., following a collision with a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River Jan. 29, the sport's national governing body paid tribute to the lives lost. In a Feb. 3 Instagram video, U.S. Figure Skating shared a glimpse into the athletes, aged 11 to 16, and their families who accompanied them following the National Development Camp in Wichita, Kan. Short clips of the skaters played as their names appeared onscreen, including 11-year-old Angela Yang and Sean Kay performing on the ice and high-fiving each other after. (Angela and Sean's moms Zheheng Li and Yulia Kay were also on board.) In another clip, 15-year-old Cory Haynos completed a camel spin on the ice and made a heart sign to the camera afterward. (His parents Stephanie Haynos and Roger Haynos were among the victims.) Skating coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shiskova, who wed in 1995, were also highlighted, along with coaches Inna Volyanskaya and Alexandr Kirsanov. More from E! Online Allison Holker Alleges Stephen 'tWitch' Boss 'Spent Recklessly on Drugs,' Left $1 Million Tax Bill Grammys 2025: Jada Pinkett Smith Reacts to Son Jaden Smith's Polarizing House Hat Michelle Williams Details Quitting Broadway Show After 2 Weeks to Seek Treatment for Depression 'Honoring those we tragically lost,' the caption read alongside a black heart emoji. 'Their memory will live on forever.' As victims' families continue to mourn the heartbreaking collision—which killed all 60 passengers and four crew members on the jet, along with the three passengers on the Black Hawk helicopter—they also reflected on their lives. Andrew Beyer, whose 12-year-old daughter Brielle and his wife Justyna were on the flight, shared insight into their child's battle with cancer at 4 months old. 'She was just such a fighter in everything she did," he told ABC News. 'She just lived life to the fullest with everything.' 'She was so proud of herself in figure skating for the progress she had made,' he continued. 'Making that team was one of her life goals. And she achieved it. And she was just so, so proud of herself.' The family of Spencer Lane, 16, whose mother Christine Lane also died onboard, described the aspiring Olympian as a 'force of nature.' 'You simply could not stop him if he decided he wanted to do something,' Spencer's dad Doug Lane said in a statement. 'There is no better example of this than his remarkable skating journey, which we are heartbroken to see end too soon. He truly loved it, and his ascent from basic Learn to Skate classes to U.S. Figure Skating's National Development Team in just a few short years was unprecedented.' Other figure skating victims included Jinna Han, 13; Jin Han; Everly Livingston, 14; Alydia Livingston, 11; Pete Livingston; Donna Livingston; Franco Aparicio; Luciano Aparicio; Olivia Eve Ter, 12; Oleysa Taylor; Edward Zhou, 16; Joe Zhou; and Kaiyan Zhou. Keep reading to learn more about the tragic collision. What Happened to the Passengers on American Airlines Flight 5342?Who Was Onboard American Airlines Flight 5342?Who Was Onboard the U.S. Army Helicopter Involved in the Collision?What Happens Next After Recover Efforts for American Airlines Flight 5342?Who Has Spoken Out After American Airlines Flight 5342 Crashed Into the Potomac River? For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Fox News
31-01-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
Wife of Delaware skating coach killed in DC plane crash left devastated by tragedy: ‘I lost everything'
The wife of a Delaware skating coach says she has "lost everything" after learning that her husband was one of the victims killed when an American Airlines plane collided midair with an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., late Wednesday night. Natalya Gudin told WPVI that she and her husband, Alexandr "Sasha" Kirsanov, were both skating coaches in Delaware. She recalled the now heartbreaking decision that she and her husband made that Kirsanov would travel to Wichita, Kansas, for a development camp. "We are husband and wife," she told the station. "We decided who's going, who's staying home," she said. "We decided he would go to the development camp." Kirsanov, 46, was one of 67 people killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided near Reagan Washington National Airport at around 9 p.m. local time. What began as a search and rescue effort turned to a recovery operation after officials said they believed there were no survivors. Among the victims included several members of the figure skating community. U.S. Figure Skating released a statement confirming that the victims were returning home from a development camp being held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, which concluded on Sunday. "I lost everything. I lost my husband. I lost my students. I lost my friends," Gudin told the station. University of Delaware President Dennis Assanis released a statement Thursday confirming that Kirsanov, a former figure skating coach with the university, was one of the victims in Wednesday's crash. "I am incredibly saddened to share the news that several members of the figure skating community connected to the University of Delaware were among those who tragically lost their lives in an aircraft collision last night in Washington, DC," his statement read. "Kirsanov and the skaters trained at the University's High Performance Training Center, which uses UD ice rink facilities and has been the training home for many years of multiple world-class skating champions and competitors. The figure skating community is tight-knit, and many of our students and coaches have trained and competed alongside those who were lost." Assanis also confirmed that Kirsanov was with "two young skaters" on the flight. He identified them only as members of the UD Figure Skating Club, but Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., later identified them as Sean Kay and Angela Yang. "I'm devastated to hear the news that at least three Delawareans died during last night's air collision. Sasha Kirsanov, Sean Kay, and Angela Yang went to Wichita to pursue their passion for figure skating. It is a tragedy that none of them returned home to our state," his post on X read. "Delaware is a state of neighbors, and tonight we hold all of our neighbors a little closer. My heart goes out to Sasha's wife Natalia, the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, and every other Delawarean touched by the three of them." Kirsanov's daughter, Nicole, also posted a tribute on social media following the loss of her father. "I miss you Dad, I would do anything to bring you back and tell you that I loved you one more time," she wrote in a post on Instagram. Kirsanov was an eight-time national coach and a three-time international junior world coach with nearly a decade of experience. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Cedar News
31-01-2025
- Cedar News
Sean Kay and Angela Yang : The 24th and 25th victims in the D.C. mid-air collision have been identified as figure skaters
Join our Telegram The 24th and 25th victims in the D.C. mid-air collision have been identified as figure skaters Sean Kay and Angela Yang, who is from the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club. They and their coach Alexandr Kirsanov were among the victims onboard American Airlines Flight 5342.
