NORWOOD, MASS. (WHDH) - As the country reels from the shock of Wednesday’s deadly mid-air crash between an American Airlines passenger jet and a military helicopter, the tragedy is especially personal for members, past and present, of the Skating Club of Boston, which lost six of their community members.
Coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, a married couple and former world champion pairs skaters, teenage skaters Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, and their respective mothers, Christine Lane and Jin Han, were on board the jet that crashed mid-air Wednesday night before falling into the Potomac River, killing all on board.
The Boston-area residents were on their way back from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, and connecting through Reagan National Airport on their way back to Logan, said Doug Zeghibe, CEO and director of the skating club.
“It was just, it was just a wonderful experience working with them,” said Skating Club of Boston choreographer Adam Blake.
Blake said the loss of Shishkova and Naumov will leave a hole in the coaching community.
“They were massive pillars within the scale of Boston’s coaching staff,” Blake said. “As much as they were world champions on ice, they were world champion, just, people.”
Courtney Gavurnik was coached by Shishkova and Naumov for five summers.
“It’s not something I can even comprehend right now, you know? It just must’ve been so scary,” she said. “One thing that I will always remember is they were both so kind.”
Olympic Silver Medalist Nancy Kerrigan, an alumna of the club, went to mourn with her fellow skaters at the club’s rink on Thursday.
“I needed support, so that’s why I’m here,” Kerrigan said. “A little at a time. It’s a shock.”
Spencer Lane and Jinna Han were remembered by their fellow skaters as major talents.
“Absolutely phenomenal,” one said about the two. “Back when I was their age, they’d blow me out of the water. Even Jinna. At 13-years-old I couldn’t do anything.”
“At such a young age, they showed championship level skating,” another agreed.
The tragedy hits all too close to home for the club, which lost 10 members in another plane crash decades ago. In 1961, the entire U.S. figure skating team, along with the 10 club members, was killed in a plane crash in Belgium.
“It was a very vivid reminder of 1961,” said Paul George, the 1962 US Junior Pairs Champion. “My wife tapped me on the shoulder at 6:30 at told me, much like my father had done 64 years ago.”
Kerrigan said the club will try to heal. When figure skaters fall, she said, they always get back up.
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