Promising teen skater Spencer Lane among victims of US plane crash

Hours before boarding ill-fated flight 5342, 16-year-old figure skater Spencer Lane posted a video of himself on social media performing a triple toe loop, the culmination of his efforts this week at the US Figure Skating development camp held in Kansas, alongside some of America’s most promising young athletes.

The video now stands as a final tribute to the Olympic hopeful, who was killed when the American Airlines plane on which he was flying home was involved in a mid-air collision with an army helicopter over Washington DC on Wednesday night.

It appears all 67 people on board both aircraft were killed in the collision over the Potomac River, officials say.

Authorities are still searching for the bodies of the victims, 14 of whom were members of the figure skating community, attending the invitation-only development camp with Spencer in Wichita that followed the US figure skating national championships held in the city last week.

Wichita Skating Centre manager Sean O’Reilly said the championships had brought a “groundswell of positivity”, enthusiastic parents and young athletes from across the United States. He was “gutted” to learn some of those skaters had been killed.

US Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland said her team was devastated.

Washington air crash victims Jinna Han, left, and Spencer Lane, and coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova.Credit: AP

“There are truly no words to capture the depth of our sorrow,” she said. “These Olympic hopefuls represented the bright future of Team USA, embodying the very essence of what it means to represent our country – perseverance, resilience and hope.”

Lane, from Rhode Island, was on the plane with fellow Skating Club of Boston member Jinna Han, 13, who had also qualified for the camp. They were flying home with their mothers, Christine Lane and Jin Han, and their coaches, world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

Club director Doug Zeghibe said Spencer and Jinna trained almost every day at the club, where flags were lowered to half-mast on Thursday and young skaters trained in silence, as alumni including Olympian Nancy Kerrigan gathered to grieve for the victims.

Former Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan breaks down in tears at The Skating Club of Boston.Credit: AP

It was the second time the club has lost members in an aviation disaster. It also lost skaters when a plane carrying the US figure skating team to the world championships in Prague crashed in Belgium in February 1961, killing 18 members of the US team.

Kerrigan arrived at the club on Thursday to support its members. She said she was in shock.

“The kids here really work hard, their parents work hard to be here,” Kerrigan said. “I feel for the athletes, the skaters, their families, but anyone that was on that plane – not just the skaters.

“We’ve been through tragedies before – as Americans, as people – and we are strong. And I guess it’s how we respond to it,” Kerrigan, a two-time Olympic medallist said.

“And so my response is to be with people I care about, I love and need. I needed support, so that’s why I’m here.”

The remains of the American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, which collided mid-air with a military Black Hawk helicopter.Credit: US Coast Guard/Getty Images

The club, which sent 18 skaters to the national championships, is one of the most prestigious training grounds in figure skating, producing Olympic and world champions Dick Button and Tenley Albright, as well as Olympic medallists Kerrigan and Paul Wylie.

Spencer’s father, Douglas Lane, told WPRI in Rhode Island his son had decided to take up skating in 2022, after watching Nathan Chen win a gold medal for the US at the Olympics.

Three short years later, the 16-year-old had proven to be a prodigy, qualifying for the elite national training camp in Wichita reserved for young athletes that Zeghibe described as “the future of the sport”.

“He just loved it,” Spencer’s father said. “There wasn’t anyone pushing him. He was just somebody who loved it and had natural talent but also just worked every day.”

Shishkova and Naumov won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships in Chiba, Japan. The Russian-born pair also competed twice in the Olympics. Their son, Maxim Naumov, competed in the championships in Wichita last week. He flew home on Monday.

“They were talented and beautiful people,” their former coach Ludmila Velikova said from St Petersburg, where she had trained both skaters when they were children. “[Shishkova] trained with me from the age of 11 and [Naumov] from age 14. They were like my own children.”

US Figure Skating issued a statement saying it was “heartbroken to learn that figure skaters, along with their families, friends and coaches, are understood to be among those on board”.

“Figure skating is more than a sport – it’s a close-knit family – and we stand together.”

AP, Reuters

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