As figure skating honors victims, it also readies its youth for ‘a lifelong process'

New York Times

07-02-2025

'Tight-knit.'
'Togetherness.'
'Resilience.'
These are just some of the words we've been hearing from the figure skating community in the aftermath of last week's midair collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army helicopter over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Of the 67 people killed in the crash, 28 of them were members of the figure skating community — athletes, parents, coaches — who were returning from a development camp in Wichita, Kan.
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But already we are learning that the figure skating community is so much more than words. Clubs in the affected communities have established funds and held support programs. Individual memorial services and funerals have been held or planned. A benefit will be held March 2 in Washington, D.C. — co-hosted by 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano and including such Olympic champions as Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton — to support the victims' families.
One development, announced on Wednesday, is that the remains of all 67 people who were killed in the crash have been recovered. And that's important, said Kenneth J. Doka, senior vice president for grief programs for the Hospice Foundation of America.
'Certainly we want to have permanent markers where we can go to remember them and honor them,' Doka said.
'We like to know the person is where we want them to be … that whatever's being done, there's a permanent resting place. And we like to go to those places. We keep a continuing connection, what we call a continuing bond with the person who died. Sometimes it's nice to have a place where that connection can be acknowledged.'
One of the challenges facing the figure skating community as these services are planned is that many of the mourners will be young people who are likely dealing with the grieving process for the first time. Among the victims from The Skating Club of Boston were 16-year-old Spencer Lane and 13-year-old Jinna Han. Lane's mother, Christine Lane, and Han's mother, Jin Han, were also killed in the crash.
Edward Zhou, 16, and his parents, Kaiyan Mao and Yu Zhou, were described by The New York Times as 'an inseparable unit of three.' They died in the crash.
Skating duo Ilya 'Sean' Kay and Angela Yang, two 11-year-olds who trained at the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, lost their lives. Sean's mother, Julia Kay, and Angela's mother, Zheheng Li, also died.
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Olivia Eve Ter of ION Figure Skating Club was 12. A post at usfigureskating.org described Olivia as 'always being cheerful with an infectious laugh.' Her mother, Olesya Taylor, was killed in the crash.
The site describes Brielle Beyer, 12, as 'spunky, polite and talented.' Brielle and her mother, Justyna Beyer, were among the victims. The site noted that Cory Haynos, 16, landed a clean triple Axel on the final day of development camp, 'a feat he had been working on for months.' Haynos and his parents, Stephanie and Roger Haynos, were killed in the crash.
Sisters Everly Livingston, 14, and Alydia Livingston, 11, and their parents, Peter and Donna Livingston, were killed in the crash. Franco Aparicio, 14, and his father, Luciano, also perished.
And then there are the coaches. Alexandr Kirsanov of the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club. Inna Volyanskaya of the Ashburn Ice House of Ashburn, Va. Vadim Naumov and his wife Evgenia Shishkova from The Skating Club of Boston.
That's 28 people, all of them members of the figure skating community.
And they are being mourned by kids who until last week were busying themselves with the joys and challenges of figure skating and the many social groups that existed in the figure skating community. Away from the rinks they no doubt enjoy the same activities as other kids. Clothes. TV shows. Sports. Video games.
It appears the figure skating community is up to the task of preparing these kids for all the tears and tributes that'll be interrupting their young lives over the next several weeks. The Skating Club of Boston, to offer one for-instance, made several of its young skaters available to the media the day after the crash. While it was important to have former Olympians Tenley Albright and Nancy Kerrigan on hand to answer questions, the younger skaters could speak about their fallen friends as nobody else could. And they spoke eloquently and anecdotally.
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'Those whom we lost dedicated their lives to perfecting the sport of figure skating, many with the goal of one day becoming Olympians,' Samuel Auxier, interim CEO of U.S. Figure Skating, wrote in a statement. 'We will never forget them.'
Figure skating will go on. These young skaters will go on.
'But we also have to remember that grief is a process,' Doka said. 'And it's a lifelong process … you're always dealing with a sense of loss.'
For those offering up prayers for those killed in the crash and for their families, there's an entire generation of young figure skaters trying to sort all this out.