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Ice skating legends Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding have given emotional responses to the devastating deaths of fellow figure skaters in the Washington DC plane crash.
On Wednesday (January 29), an American Airlines flight crashed into an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., near Reagan Washington National Airport. All 67 onboard both aircraft are feared dead, including six members of a figure skating club from Massachusetts. The Skating Club of Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts later confirmed that six of its members were aboard the American Airlines flight: two skaters, two coaches, and two parents.
Among those presumed dead are 16-year-old skaters Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, along with their mothers Christine Lane and Jin Han. Former Olympians Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — who won the 1994 World Figure Skating champions as pairs representing Russia and were a couple — were also on the flight.
Kerrigan spoke at the Skating Club of Boston on Thursday during a press conference and broke down in tears. She said she was “not sure how to process” the devastating loss of members of the skating club.
“The kids here really work hard,” she said. “Their parents work hard to be here. But I just feel for the athletes, the skaters, and their families. [And] anyone who was on that plane, because it’s just such a tragic event.”
The silver medalist went on to share that her response to the tragedy was to be with people she cares about and loves. “I needed support,” she added. “So that’s why I’m here. I don’t know, a little bit at a time. I think it’s a shock.”
During the press conference, Kerrigan said that while she never worked with Shishkova or Naumov, who were both coaches at the skating club, she’s “seen them a lot of times over the years.”
“They were always welcoming and happy to see one another,” she said about the pair. “To walk in here and not see that, I think would be very strange for everybody who comes here. Especially those who are here day in and day out.”
Former figure skater Tonya Harding tweeted a message about the lives lost in the plane crash.
“The events that took place last night in Washington, DC are absolutely devastating,” she wrote on Thursday (January 30). “I’m being told that several professional figure skaters were aboard the flight as well. Sending my love and prayers to all the victims and their families.”
Throughout their successful skating careers, Harding and Kerrigan were rivals. They became embroiled in an international controversy in 1994 when Kerrigan was attacked by a man hired by Harding’s ex-husband, a scandal dramatized in the 2017 film I, Tonya, starring Margot Robbie as Harding.
Following the American Airlines crash, US Figure Skating said athletes, coaches, and family members were returning from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the US Figure Skating Championships in Kansas.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” it said in a statement.
Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater who competed for the Soviet Union, was also on the flight, according to Virginia Rep. Suhas Subramanyam who shared the news in a post on X (formerly Twitter.) She was an ice skating coach for Ashburn Ice House in Virginia.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who are skating partners, were not on the flight with the other skaters, the head of their training school, director of The Ice Academy for World’s Champions Jamal Othman, told The Independent, contradicting reports in Russian media.
The midair collision occurred as the passenger jet, traveling from Wichita in Kansas, was on approach to land at Reagan. Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk suggested the helicopter crew knew the plane was in the vicinity.
