After the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, some young athletes stayed a couple of additional days for further development.
U.S. Figure Skating confirmed that coaches, athletes and their family members were killed in the collision while coming back from a camp in conjunction with the championships.
San Jose-native Anthony Ponomarenko had already left the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Kansas, where the ill-fated American Airlines flight had departed from. On Thursday morning, he woke up to a frantic call from his parents.
Amber Glenn, a 25-year-old from Plano who defended her U.S. figure skating championship last week in Wichita, was also among the community within the sport devastated by the news. “I’m in complete shock. I’m sorry I don’t even know what to say,” Glenn posted to Instagram on Thursday morning.
Some skaters, their families, and coaches were on American Airlines Flight 5342 that crashed with a military helicopter on Wednesday night.
Coach Alexandr Kirsanov and skaters Angela Yang and Sean Kay were on the plane, Kirsanov's wife, Natalia Gudin confirmed.
The Kansas City Figure Skating Club reacted to the loss of a community in a plane crash near DC.
US Figure Skating confirmed several members of the skating community were onboard the American Airlines flight that collided with a Blackhawk military helicopter.
Officials believe there are no survivors after a plane with 64 people aboard crashed into a helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport.
Figure skating luminaries reacted Thursday to the deadly plane crash that claimed the lives of several youth figure skaters, their coaches, and their families.
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place Jan. 21-26 in Wichita, Kansas. U.S. Figure Skating did not identify any of the members of its team that were on board. Doug Zeghib