Famed Figure Skaters, Coaches Vadim Naumov, Evgenia Shishkova Among DC Plane Crash Victims
January 30, 2025
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Decorated figure skaters and coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were reported among the passengers killed when a flight from Wichita, Kansas to Washington DC collided with an Army helicopter late Wednesday above the Potomac River.
Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe confirmed the deaths of Shishkova and Naumov, the husband and wife who transitioned from their careers as Soviet Olympic pairs skaters to accomplished coaches in the U.S.
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“This will have long-reaching impacts for our skating community,” Zeghibe told reporters Thursday. “The (coaches) came to us in 2017 and were very much a part of our building the competitive skating program here at the Skating Club of Boston.”
Shishkova and Naumov’s son, Maxim Naumov, finished fourth last week at the U.S. national figure skating championships in Wichita, Kansas. Maxim Naumov was not on the same flight.
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Shishkova and Naumov were two-time Olympians in their native Soviet Union. In 1994, they won a world championship gold medal together in Chiba, Japan.
According to his biography on the Skating Club of Boston website, Naumov, 55, had 22 years of experience in training all levels of competitive singles and pairs skating. Shishkova, 52, had 20 years of coaching experience in training all levels of competitive singles and pairs skating.
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Zeghibe held back tears as he recounted that Shishkova “was always too nervous to watch [her son] skate,” according to the Daily Beast, and that his father celebrated with him after he turned in a “great performance.”
Several other coaches were among the group of skaters and their families lost in the crash, as U.S. Figure Skating confirmed in a statement Thursday.
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…
— U.S. Figure Skating (@USFigureSkating) January 30, 2025
“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.,” U.S. Figure Skating announced in a statement posted to its social media accounts Thursday. “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.”
Natalya Gudin, the wife of Alexandr Kirsanov, a coach of two youth ice skaters on board the flight, told ABC News Thursday that “I lost everything.”
Emergency vehicles and rescue crews are seen on the banks of the Potomac River after American Airlines flight 5342 on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river outside Washington, DC, January 30, 2025…. Emergency vehicles and rescue crews are seen on the banks of the Potomac River after American Airlines flight 5342 on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river outside Washington, DC, January 30, 2025.
Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP
Kirsanov flew from the couple’s home in Delaware to Kansas for the development camp. Gudin told ABC she spoke with her husband as he boarded the flight on Wednesday.
“I lost my husband, I lost my students, I lost my friends,” Gudin told ABC News. “I need my husband back. I need his body back.”
More news: Teenage Figure Skater Killed in DC Plane Crash Described as ‘Wonderful’ By Coach
Russia’s Mash news outlet published a list of 13 skaters, many of them the children of Russian emigres to the United States, who it said may have been on the plane.
“There were other of our fellow citizens on board. It’s bad news today from Washington. We are sorry and send our condolences to families and friends,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media in St. Petersburg, including Reuters.
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