'Several' US Figure Skating team members aboard plane that crashed near Washington
by Lisa Riley Roche, Deseret News · KSL.comEstimated read time: 1-2 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — U.S. figure skaters, along with their coaches and family members, were onboard the American Airlines flight that plunged into the Potomac River Wednesday night after a midair collision with an Army Blackhawk helicopter.
A statement issued Thursday from U.S. Figure Skating confirmed "several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C."
The governing body for American figure skating said the "athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas."
The statement concluded, "We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available."
No names or other details were released.
Russian world figure skating champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were also on the flight, Reuters reported. Shishkova and Naumov, who were married to each other, won the world championships in pairs figure skating in 1994.
They reportedly had lived in the United States since at least 1998, where they trained young ice skaters, the international news agency said.
There are believed to be no survivors among the 60 passengers and four crew members on board the commercial jet or the three-person crew on the helicopter.
The jet was coming directly from Wichita, where the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held Jan. 20-26, at INTRUST Bank Arena.
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Lisa Riley Roche