Former World Champion Skaters Were Aboard DC Plane

Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia had moved to the US
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 30, 2025 8:43 AM CST
Former World Champion Skaters Were Aboard DC Plane
Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia compete at the World Figure Skating competition in Edmonton, Alberta, March 19, 1996.   (AP Photo/Dave Buston, File)

Members of the US and Russian figure skating worlds were aboard the American Airlines jet that crashed into the Potomac, and more details are emerging:

  • Former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova, 52, and Vadim Naumov, 55, were on the plane, reports Reuters and the Guardian. The Russian natives won the world pairs title in 1994 and emigrated a few years later to the US, where they have been training young skaters.

  • The US Figure Skating organization previously said several skaters, family members, and coaches, were returning from a development camp for young skaters held in Wichita, Kansas. The camp is held annually in conjunction with the national championships. The group has not released any names or provided numbers. American skater Jon Maravilla said there were "about 14 figure skaters on the plane, not counting their parents and coaches," per the New York Times. It was not clear how many were Russian and how many American.
  • One Russian media outlet identified Inna Volyanskaya, a retired skater who competed for the former Soviet Union, as a passenger. She also had moved to the US to coach. Another Russian outlet posted the names of 13 skaters, many of whom were the children of Russian transplants to the US, who were thought to be on board, according to the Guardian.
  • Shishkova and Naumov had posted on social media from the development camp, where their son Maxim Naumov competed, notes the New York Post. However, the couple's former trainer tells Reuters that Maxim was not aboard the plane.
(More Potomac plane crash stories.)

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