Figure skating community from Bay Area and beyond mourns DC plane crash victims: 'Just unimaginable'

ByLena Howland, Zach Fuentes, and Tara Campbell KGO logo
Friday, January 31, 2025
Bay Area figure skating community mourns DC plane crash victims
The U.S. figure skating community is mourning the victims of the deadly Reagan National Airport midair plane crash in Washington, D.C.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The U.S. Figure Skating Organization confirmed several members of the skating community were among the victims after the midair collision of an American Airlines passenger flight and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in D.C. on Wednesday night.

DC PLANE CRASH VICTIMS: What we know about those on AA Flight 5342, Army Black Hawk

By Thursday morning, officials confirmed there were no survivors.

The group was leaving Wichita, Kansas following the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and National Development Camps.

"To the best of our knowledge, 14 skaters that were returning home from the National Development Camp at Wichita, Kansas put on by U.S. Figure Skating were lost in the plane crash at Washington D.C.," said Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston.

Zeghibe said six of the victims were from the Skating Club of Boston, including teenage athletes, their moms and a married set of coaches.

Members of the Bay Area figure skating community are now in mourning.

"I woke up to, you know, being told that my two friends, Evgenia and Vadim, were on the plane," said Olympian Brian Boitano.

RELATED: 14 figure skaters among victims of DC plane crash

The Bay Area's own Olympic gold medalist is mourning the loss of his two friends along with 12 other figure skaters.

"They were the 1994 world champions," said Boitano. "Here in San Francisco, I did a TV special and I invited them to do with me at Yerba Buena to open the rink in 1998."

Boitano described his friends as "a great couple, great skaters, great champions, and great mentors. Aside from the skating thing fantastic people, warm, and helpful, and kind, and they smiled a lot."

VIDEO: Bay Area's Brian Boitano mourns 14 figure skaters in midair crash

Brian Boitano mourns the loss of his two friends along with twelve other figure skaters onboard the American Airlines flight that collided with an army helicopter.

The victims were returning from a national development camp following the U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas - among them were teenagers skating out of a historic club in Boston.

"These were young kids, I would say mature beyond their age," said Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe. "It's hard to believe that Jinna was only 13. We got to watch her grow up from a spindly little kid into this skating beauty at 13, which was just amazing."

"Spencer was referred to as a firecracker, a very young dynamic skater. He'd only been skating for two or three years and his technical ability for such a short time was incredible, almost unheard of."

"We are a very tight-knit community We're all connected," said Boitano. "So when something happens to one person, it reverberates through the whole community of skaters."

"They were our future, so it was mostly really promising future skaters that passed away and their parents," said Anthony Ponomarenko, a San Jose native and professional figure skater.

RELATED: Tara Lipinski, Nancy Kerrigan mourn loss of figure skaters in DC plane crash

Twenty-four-year-old Ponomarenko says he knew the married Boston coaches that were on the flight and was friends with their son who was not on the flight.

He was in Kansas competing in the National Figure Skating Championships, even snapping a candid photo with other competitors from the rink.

He woke up to a frantic call from his parents at 3 a.m. on Thursday.

"At first, the media outlets mentioned a whole bunch of names, and I was one of them, so my parents called me panicked, thinking I could have potentially been on that flight," he said.

Ponomarenko had already left for Ontario by Monday when his time at the championships was over.

"It was shocking. I honestly didn't know how to go about it. I didn't sleep from the moment my parents called me, until... I didn't sleep," he said. "So it was tough. And then to find out who was actually on that flight, it was pretty heartbreaking."

RELATED: What to know about Army helicopter and American Airlines jet that collided over Washington

Polina Edmunds said she was just in Wichita for the U.S. Championships last week.

"I think everyone in the community is just so shocked right now and devastated," she said. "And so many people know either the people on the plane or know of the people on the plane."

Edmunds is a retired figure skater who represented the U.S. in the 2014 winter Olympics, getting her start in San Jose. She's now a small business owner and has been a faculty member of the U.S. Figure Skating National Development Camp.

"A lot of these kids that were on the flight, I've worked with them, in these figure skating camps. I've done classes. They've all taken my classes. So, seeing their names and seeing photos of them, of course, I recognize these faces, and it's just heartbreaking," she said. "Not to mention that there were also coaches on this flight."

DC PLANE CRASH: A timeline of the deadly collision

Kristi Yamaguchi, Bay Area native, Olympic figure skating gold medalist and two-time world champion, released this statement on X: "My heart breaks for my skating community and all who are involved in the plane crash. Too much is still unknown, sending love and prayers."

Through tears, figure skating legend Nancy Kerrigan spoke to the media in Boston Thursday.

"I just feel for the athletes, the skaters and their families but anyone that was on that plane not, just the skaters because it's just such a tragic event," Kerrigan said.

As the heartbreak continues, Edmunds says the tight-knit figure skating community is coming together even stronger.

"It's just making us all, reach out to each other and make sure everyone, in our own close circles are okay. And kind of seeing how we can lean on each other in this time," Edmunds said. "It is just unimaginable, what happened."

Ponomarenko says they are planning to honor the lives lost in this crash at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston. As of Thursday morning, it is still scheduled for March 25 to March 30.

The U.S. Figure Skating Organization released this statement on Thursday morning: "U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C. These 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. 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."

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