Ilia Malinin, the reigning world and national champion in men’s figure skating, joined other prominent members of the figure skating community in offering his condolences to those affected by the fatal collision between a plane and a military helicopter over the Potomac River on Wednesday.
‘I’m heartbroken by the tragic loss of my fellow skaters in this devastating accident,’ Malinin wrote on Instagram. ‘The figure skating community is a family, and this loss is beyond words. My thoughts are with their families, friends and everyone affected. We will never forget them.’
U.S. Figure Skating has said in a statement that ‘several members’ of its community were aboard the flight, which was inbound from Wichita, Kansas – the site of last week’s national figure skating championships. Malinin, 20, lives and trains in Northern Virginia but was not aboard the flight.
He won his third consecutive national title during the weekend, clinching the victory by landing six quadruple jumps in his long program Sunday. It is unclear when or whether he traveled back to the Washington area.
The Washington Figure Skating Club, of which Malinin is a member, wrote in a statement that it is ‘devastated’ by the news.
‘More information will be posted when appropriate,’ the club said.
Details were still emerging early Thursday morning about the victims of the crash, in which a passenger plane with 64 people aboard collided with an Army helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport. Authorities said Thursday that they had recovered 28 bodies from the scene and do not believe there are any survivors.
Doug Zeghibe, the chief executive of the Skating Club of Boston, said in a statement that six people affiliated with his club were on board the flight, including two teenage skaters, their mothers and two coaches. The coaches, married couple Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, won the 1994 world championships as pairs figure skaters for Russia before moving to the United States.
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