Olympian Nancy Kerrigan is mourning these killed on American Airways Flight 5342, particularly the athletes that represented her residence membership: The Skating Membership of Boston.
The skater, 55, visited the membership’s rink in Norwood, Mass., on Thursday, Jan. 30, after studying concerning the lethal crash that occurred between the business airplane and a U.S. Military Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday evening.
“I advised them, I’ve to be round you guys,” Kerrigan advised PEOPLE completely. “I wanted the neighborhood, the help. It is okay to ask for assist and to be there for each other.”
A minimum of six passengers have been affiliated with the Skating Membership of Boston: coaches and former world pairs champions Evgenia Shiskova and her husband Vadim Naumov; skater Spencer Lane and his mom Christine; and skater Jinna Han and her mom Jin.
Skaters from different golf equipment, together with sisters Everly and Alydia Livingston, additionally perished within the crash.
“It is heart-wrenching,” stated Kerrigan, a local of close by Stoneham, Mass. “All people who died is any person’s any person.”
“I needed to be right here,” she advised PEOPLE after an extended day of talking with different skaters and their households. “This actually hits residence. The skating neighborhood has been by means of tragedy earlier than.”
Kerrigan was referring to the 1961 Sabena Flight 548 crash that killed all 18 members of the U.S. determine skating staff en path to the world championships in Prague. U.S. Determine Skating, the governing physique of the game, established a memorial fund to assist up-and-coming skaters with their coaching bills.
Kerrigan additionally remembered the victims whereas talking to reporters exterior the Skating Membership of Boston on Thursday. She turned emotional whereas sharing that she’s “unsure the best way to course of” the devastating loss. “I simply wished to be right here and be a part of our neighborhood.”
The athletes and coaches killed on American Airways Flight 5342 have been returning residence from a improvement camp following the 2025 U.S. Determine Skating Championships held the earlier week.
“Our sport and this Membership have suffered a horrible loss with this tragedy,” wrote CEO Doug Zeghibe on X. “We’re devastated and fully confused.”
In an announcement, Lane’s household stated the 16-year-old “really liked” the game.
“His ascent from fundamental Be taught to Skate lessons to U.S. Determine Skating’s Nationwide Improvement Workforce in just some quick years was unprecedented,” it learn. “We’re so grateful that his final week was stuffed with pleasure and surrounded by his beloved Skating Membership of Boston and the U.S. Determine Skating household.”
Jerome Prevost/TempSport/Corbis/VCG through Getty
Kerrigan represented The Skating Membership of Boston all through her eligible profession. She gained the bronze medal on the 1992 Olympics in Albertville and the silver medal on the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer.
Different well-known membership alumni embody Dr. Tenley Albright, the primary American lady to win a gold medal in determine skating on the Olympics, two-time Olympic champion Dick Button, who died on Thursday, and 1992 Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie.