CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Victims of Wednesday’s American Airlines plane crash at Reagan National Airport included a group of elite figure skaters, their coaches, and family members. They were flying to the East Coast after a training camp following the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.
It’s a tragedy that has sent shockwaves throughout the ice skating community worldwide.
Among the victims were skaters from Northern Virginia, Delaware, Philadelphia, and Boston. The tragic loss also included two highly regarded Russian-born figure skating coaches, as well as two teenage figure skaters and their mothers.
Watch previous coverage: Nancy Kerrigan mourns after learning figure skaters were among those killed in plane crash
At Chilled Ponds Ice Sports Complex in Chesapeake, members came together to talk and skate.
“I saw several of these coaches two months ago at a competition in Boston,” said Jill Stewart, skating director of the Tidewater Figure Skating Club. “I don’t know them well, but I’ve watched their athletes skate.”
Stewart noted that the news has personally affected some of her skaters, including an inspiring young man. “He’s friends with a lot of the kids who perished on the plane… so it’s just incredibly tragic,” she explained.
Watch previous coverage: 28 bodies recovered from helicopter and plane crash, no survivors expected
These athletes dedicate countless hours to their sport. As Stewart conveyed, “This is a very passionate sport. Unlike a lot of other sports that are seasonal, figure skating is not. It’s like gymnastics. You train all year.” She added that Hampton Roads has “an amazing figure skating community,” one that will remain united during this difficult time.
This incident is not the first to impact the figure skating community. In 1961, a flight carrying all 18 members of the U.S. Figure Skating Team to the World Championships in Prague crashed near Brussels, killing everyone on board.
