Ice skating club reels from US Airplane Crash

No one at the Boston skating club had doubts that 13-year-old Gina Khan and 16-year-old Spencer Lane would go far to the sport they fell in love with.

Even in a club that produced countless skaters at the elite level – where the race is as difficult as it works – the two stood out.

“They were sought and identified as the future of sports,” the club’s executive director Doug Zgbebe told me as I stood at the rink where the two athletes trained every day.

“So, to see such promising talents that fell apart, it is difficult. They were really at the top of greatness and indeed, finally, they finally achieved their goals to present not only the Boston skating club but also representing their own country. ”

This talent, on a full display in videos showing them that they were performing with strength and maturity beyond their age, was why they were invited to the high -performance camp that followed the US Figure Skating Championship in the US in Wich, this week S

After the camp, they embarked on a regional aircraft on American Airlines on Wednesday night, planning to fly home to Massachusetts through Washington. They were among the 60 passengers killed when the plane had a collision in the middle of the air with a helicopter and fell into the Potomak River.

Their mothers, Christine Laine and Jin Han, and the club’s coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgeny Shishkova were also on board, which means that six of the victims of the crash were linked to the world -famous skating club.

Ski at such a high level require a huge commitment, with school work done online after hours of ice every day.

Close relations between coaches and members of the club are inevitably developing, and in front of a similar disaster the club house is a natural place to gather.

Just a few days ago, club members Alice Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov won the title of American couples in Wichita before taking a more flight home.

“They were just two sun from which you get the energy as soon as you see them,” Efimova told me.

“Every time I went into this ice rink, I would see them in the morning, tying their skates, saying, just saying” hello “, seeing their faces.”

“Spencer was a fireworks, this is the best way to say it,” Mitrofanov added.

“He started to skate much later than other skaters, but because of his incredible talent, he was progressing so quickly.”

At the end of the workout for a hard day, I was told that the two would take off their skates and head above to start catching up with academic work.

Now, at the entrance of the club, the photographs that capture them on the move of the ice are surrounded by respect and flowers. Gina is outstretched. Spencer keeps the appearance of a deep focus on his face.

“You don’t expect it,” Mitrofanov said. “And when it happens, it breaks you.”

Coaches Naumov and Shishkova, originally from Russia, were the world’s skating champions of world couples. They leave a 23-year-old son Maxim, another promising talent from Boston, who finished fourth in the Witca men’s men.

In its more than 100 years of history, the club has previously seen how success can be quickly overshadowed by the tragedy.

He was home to 10 of the 18 members of the US Figure Skating Team killed in a plane crash on the way to the 1961 World Cup in Prague.

The CEO Zgiebe immediately remembered this crash as he was watching the unfolding news on Wednesday night.

“My first thought was that it couldn’t happen again,” he told me. “And I was just like, how to hit the lightning twice?”

One of the many well -known graduates of the club Nancy Kerigan is also in the club to show his solidarity and to mourn the loss of six lives.

Prior to his silver medal for the 1994 Winter Olympics, the attacker hit his knee with a stick after a training session. It was later revealed that the attacker was hired by the wife of Kerigan’s rival Tonya Harding.

“The community stood behind me and I was grateful for it,” she said.

“So now it’s my order to hope to be here. I’m not sure what to do. Maybe take a cup of coffee or a hug. I’m here for hugs. I don’t know, I just want to be able to bring what I feel like I feel that I have.

In just a few weeks, the club organizes the World Figure Skating Championships, which are held in the city in March.

This is a huge responsibility to bear.

“All this requires many of us, not only in the management of this club, not only in the management of the World Cup, but also now in the management of grief,” Zagie said when I asked him how they would handle it.

The event will be a chance to honor the lost life, not just this club. A total of 14 members of the figure skating community were killed in the crash.

“I think looking at the future is part of the emotional healing process,” he said, “and it’s good to have things to focus on, which are positive about sports.”

“We will accept it every day, we will be there for our members as far as possible, and then we will understand: how to move forward?”