EDITOR'S NOTE: This compilation of stories about the 28 individuals from the skating community who perished in American Airlines Flight 5342 on Jan. 29, 2025, appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of SKATING magazine. On the anniversary of this tragic event, we remember and honor their lives and legacies.

THE SKATING CLUB OF BOSTON

One In a Million
Spencer Lane was a phenom, a skater with so much natural ability and focus he made seasoned professionals at The Skating Club of Boston question one of the sport's most established tenets: that an early start was essential for elite success.

 "The way he was progressing, everybody was like, 'Is it possible for a kid who started at 12 or 13 to get to the Olympics?'" Olga Ganicheva, one of the Club's leading coaches, said.
 
The 16-year-old took up skating in earnest after watching his idols, Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou, at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. Under coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, he went from competing in the no-test category to landing triple-triple combinations to working on a triple Axel and quad Salchow in just three years. A win at Eastern Sectionals in intermediate men earned him a slot at the National Development Camp.

"He was a once-in-a-lifetime student in terms of how he had the ability to take what I was saying to him, think about it for a second and then immediately apply it," Anne Goldberg-Baldwin, who worked with Lane on his skating skills and artistry, said. "He started to value those other parts [of skating] that make you a complete package."

Born in South Korea and adopted by Christine and Douglas Lane in 2009, Spencer had a family, including younger brother Milo, who supported his skating but gave him and his coaching team space. While Christine, a talented graphic designer and avid quilter, would sometimes work remotely from the Club, Spencer often traveled there from their home in Barrington, Rhode Island, on his own via commuter rail and his scooter.

"Christine was just the ideal skating parent," Goldberg-Baldwin said. "In Wichita, she told me, 'I just don't know if I'm cut out to be a skating mom. Some of these parents are pretty intense, and I'm not that.' "I kept telling her, That's what makes you perfect for this.'"

Officials took note of Spencer's rapid ascent. While in Wichita, he was offered an international assignment in the advanced novice category — no mean feat for a skater attending his first-ever camp, who landed his first triple jump about a year ago.

"He was so excited for next season; we were getting the choreography going, and we were showing some of it to the judges at the camp on that morning of the crash," Goldberg-Baldwin said. "Spencer really wanted to own everything he did on the ice. He had a meteoric rise, but he was hungry for more."

Champion Athletes, Champion Coaches
As Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were wondrous, executing the most difficult maneuvers with speed and finesse, their lines were impeccable. Naumov lifted Shishkova with ease and set her down gently.

Competing in a field crowded with several other superb Russian pairs, the two-time Olympians amassed eight European and World medals, including World gold in 1994.

"They were really fun to watch," 1984 Olympic champion Scott Hamilton said. "They were unique in that way. For many Russian pairs of that era, it was either passion or perfection, but they could also go out and really entertain."

Their coaching career, which began in Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1998, with a move to SCOB in 2017, was also rewarding. They introduced Alexa Knierim, the future five-time U.S. champion and 2022 World champion, to pairs in 2010, and trained many U.S. Championships competitors, including son Max Naumov, a medalist at the novice, junior and senior levels.

"From Vadim, I learned how to work 24/7 and never complain, because you love it," Ganicheva, their colleague at SCOB, said. "And I learned from Genia how to be so sweet and kind and patient. I am emotional; I can show frustration. They never did."

In 2020, the couple founded SCOB's Tomorrow's Champions, a school based on training methods they learned in their birthplace of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It offers off-ice conditioning and dance instruction in addition to on-ice fundamentals, all in a group-class environment.

"They were strict, and also warm and caring," Goldberg-Baldwin, one of Tomorrow's Champions teachers, said.
"[On birthdays] we would always come together on the ice and sing 'Happy Birthday,' and Vadim would lift the skater up in a simple lift. Both of them always had a twinkle in their eyes."

Shishkova and Naumov's work will live on: Max will take a leadership position at Tomorrow's Champions.

"The school is wait-list only," Goldberg-Baldwin said. "It got that way because of Vadim and Genia's hard work and belief."

A Skating Angel
To Jimmy Ma, who shared the ice with Jinna Han at SCOB, the 13-year-old novice skater wasn't a rinkmate, a practice partner or even a friend. Jinna and her mom Jin Hee Han were family.

"She was like my little sister," Ma said. "One of the hardest-working kids I've ever met, one of the brightest, lots of vitality. And her mom, Jin Hee, was just like an auntie to all of us. Honestly, she was like an adoptive parent. They were going to be in Korea for Four Continents."
    
Jinna was a star on the ice, able to hit five triple jumps in a free skate while sparkling in her step sequences. She overcame severe tendonitis to qualify for National Development Camp with a strong performance at Eastern Sectionals. Yebin Mok, a five-time U.S. Championships competitor who taught at the camp, was drawn to the sylph-like athlete.

 "She glided like an angel," Mok said. "Perfect feet, perfect posture. I remember thinking, wow — she is really special. She made a mark in my head."

Remembered by all at SCOB as a warm, generous person, Jin Hee taught Sunday school at Boston's Korean Presbyterian Church. Devoted to their daughter, she and husband Joon Young spent countless hours at the rink.
 
"She always shared positive thoughts with everybody, never criticized or gossiped," Ganicheva, who coached Jinna for seven years, said of Jin Hee. "And she never pushed Jinna to skate. It all came from Jinna; she just loved it so much."

Of course, Jinna and Jin Hee never traveled to Four Continents, held in Seoul three weeks after the crash. But they were there in spirit, lifting Ma up, urging the 29-year-old skater to deliver two of his best programs to win his first-ever ISU medal, a bronze.

"Right after he skated, Jimmy told me, 'Olga, those first two quads, I don't even remember doing them. Jinna and her mom were helping me,'" Ganicheva said. "And he brought his medals to the rink, to give them to Joon Young. Jimmy said, 'I did this for them.'"

Joon Young declined to accept Ma's gift. The gesture, and a father's memories, are enough. His daughter, who skated like an angel, has become an angel.

ION FIGURE SKATING CLUB

A Selfless Mother and Talented Daughter
When Olivia Eve Ter skated her programs, everyone at her rink watched. The 12-year-old was graceful beyond her years, with a lovely spiral and elegant spins. Her jumps were big and were sometimes done with both arms overhead.

"I noticed Olivia right away on ice. It was impossible not to notice her," Olga Konopelko, a close friend of Olivia's mom, Olesya Taylor, said. "She had such style, and she was so focused. She was different from other skaters."

It was also impossible not to notice Olesya, a warm, friendly woman whose positivity was infectious. Born in Ukraine and raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia, she studied medicine before emigrating to the U.S. After marrying Andrew Ter and giving birth to Olivia and her older sister, Anne Valerie, she set her own career aside.

"She devoted her life to her children," Konopelko said. "There was Olivia's skating, and Anne Valerie is a gifted pianist."

Konopelko, whose daughter Julia skates, grew close to Olesya when their daughters trained at Fairfax Ice Arena. Olivia also trained at other rinks, but this season returned to Fairfax when 1998 Olympic champion Ilia Kulik joined her coaching team.

"We would talk every day, sometimes for hours," Konopelko said. "About skating, school, university choices, future plans for our daughters."

Olivia had hoped to qualify for the camp last season, but didn't quite make it. She was thrilled when her fourth-place finish at Eastern Sectionals earned her an invitation, and Olesya was proud to fly with her to Wichita.

"They were super excited," Konopelko said. "[Olesya] called me about how Olivia was learning from the best skaters [about] what she needed to work on, what she needed to improve."

Neither Olivia nor Olesya got much sleep in Wichita, but Olivia couldn't wait to get back on to the ice, to put what she had learned into practice. Their plane was due to arrive on Wednesday night, and she wanted to get to the rink by 7 or 8 a.m. on Thursday.

"I said to Olesya, 'Oh my gosh, that's so early in the morning, and it's going to be 10, 11 p.m. by the time you get home; you should rest,'" Konopelko said. "But Olivia's coach was already starting to work on her program for next season. So that's how it was."

As always, Olesya was ready to put her daughter's needs first.

WASHINGTON FIGURE SKATING CLUB

Ice Skating Sisters
When Kitty McCory, director of Capital Theatre on Ice, asked which of her skaters wanted to dress up in an inflatable dinosaur costume for a "Night at the Museum" group number, Alydia Livingston's hand shot up.

McCory expected nothing less. The 11-year-old fifth grader, then training at Ashburn Ice House in singles, was a bundle of energy who dreamed of starring in Disney on Ice and grabbed every chance she could to perform.

"Alydia learned the part in one day and came out and skated it perfectly," McCory, who coached the skater for years, said. "That's who she was. She would just eat up life."

Her sister Everly, 14, was more reserved, a consummate competitor with big jumps and strong technique. The eighth grader envisioned a future competing internationally, and as a juvenile Eastern Sectional champion and intermediate Eastern Sectional pewter medalist, she seemed to be on her way.

"They were polar opposites," McCory said. "Alydia was a live wire. She was all personality. Everly was consistent, very fierce and focused, and she was a bit shy."

Known as "The Ice Skating Sisters," Everly and Alydia chronicled their adventures on social media, building a large following. When news of their deaths broke, condolences poured in from around the world.

"I wouldn't say [the social media] was just the sisters; their parents Donna and Peter were very much part of that," McCory said. "They were so supportive. Their dad filmed everything — we did a lot of outdoor shows, and he asked me every single time, 'Can the girls skate?'"

A realtor in the family's hometown of Ashburn, Virginia, Peter was famous for creating a backyard ice rink for his daughters each winter. Donna, who worked as a marketing executive for Comcast, enjoyed doing hair and make-up for her daughters' fellow Washington Figure Skating Club skaters.

"Donna was very loving, and also stylish," McCory said. "Everly and Alydia were always dressed to the nines; they looked great. I never knew how she got it all done."

Katya Shalimova and her daughter Sofia Bezkorovainaya were close with the Livingstons almost from the first day Sofia and Everly set foot on the ice at Ashburn. Each morning, the two girls would greet each other with a hug.

"They had a dream, to open their own ice rink one day," Shalimova said. "They had it all planned; they were supposed to be coaches. Me, Donna and Peter would laugh about it. The girls would say, 'One of us has to make it; one of us has to be famous, so people will come to our rink.' And we would always tell them, 'Why not both of you? Both of you can make it, and you can still have your rink.'"

Now Bezkorovainaya, eighth in the junior event at the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships, skates on alone, remembering her BFF each step of the way.

"I'll never forget her smile, her laughs, her skating," she said. "Everly was so sweet always, and I miss her so much."
 
From Moscow to Northern Virginia, With Love
 At Ashburn Ice House, they were known as "Inna V" and "Inna O," former competitors who grew up in the Soviet Union, met while performing with Disney on Ice in 1996, and then settled into coaching careers in Northern Virginia. They often trained students together.

With partner and former husband Valery Spiridonov, Moscow-born Inna Volyanskaya competed internationally in the late 1970s through the early 1980s, winning many national and international medals. Retiring from competition in 1983, the elegant and versatile pair had an extensive professional career, performing both balletic and comedic programs in Torvill and Dean's tours and Russian All-Stars.

"She was a perfectionist, and for me, an amazing choreographer," Inna Ovsiannikova, a six-time Belarus champion, said of her colleague. "She would work from 8 a.m., do 30 minutes lunch, and work until 6 or 6:30 pm. And she cared about everyone. She was always calling people, asking them how they felt."

As coaches, the two complemented each other. Inna V was more of a technician, while Inna O stressed artistry. Often, Inna O chose the music while Inna V choreographed the programs. Together, they led Everly Livingston to fourth place at Eastern Sectionals and a coveted spot at the camp.

"We kind of balanced each other," Ovsiannikova said. "I always tried to calm her down, tell her what a great job she was doing, tell her to relax, but she always wanted to keep going."

After working 10 days in a row in Wichita, though, Volyanskaya needed a break. She had decided to take a rare day off once she returned to Ashburn, perhaps spend it with her husband, Jeremy, and daughter, Masha. She texted people to inform them she wouldn't be at the rink that Thursday.

"But her skaters told her, 'Oh, you've got to come back — we need you back at the rink,'" Ovsiannikova said. "One more day away, that was too much for them."

'Just the Sweetest Kid'
Tommy Steenberg still remembers the day in 2015 when Franco Aparicio and his sister Isabella took the ice for their first Learn to Skate USA class.

"The family was originally from Argentina, and they both barely spoke a word of English," Steenberg, then an instructor at Ashburn Ice House, said. "They were bickering, and I was trying to run the class, but they were the two best skaters there. And they were pretty much fluent in English by the end of six or eight weeks. Very smart and talented kids."

After coaching Franco and Isabella for four years, Steenberg moved to Chicago, but he kept in touch with the family and followed Franco's progress, which included a win at the Middle Atlantics Figure Skating Championships that helped him earn a spot at the camp in Wichita. Dad Luciano, an accountant who rose to be a managing director at a multinational power company, took time off work to accompany his son.

"With Franco, it was not just about the triples; he was an amazing jumper, but his charisma and how he related to the music was just so special," Steenberg said.

The 14-year-old was also one of Washington Figure Skating Club's most giving young members, raising his hand for everything from ice monitoring to baking brownies for the club's fundraiser.

"He was just the sweetest kid," McCory said. "A beautiful skater, very artistic, great lines. The week before he left for Wichita, I saw him land what I believe was his first triple Lutz. And it was shocking, because I don't think he had been working on it for long."

Franco's musicality may have been inherited: Luciano was a virtuoso guitarist.

"He had just played this very heartfelt rendition of Pachelbel's 'Canon in D' that the family had a video of, so we came up with the idea of Isabella skating to her dad's music," Steenberg, who choreographed the program, said. "I just think it's a very meaningful moment, something (Luciano) would really like, and I know Franco's mom (Barbara) is happy about it."

The tranquil, uplifting music perfectly suited Isabella's tribute to her sweet younger brother and accomplished father, making her performance one of the most emotional of "Legacy on Ice."

SKATING CLUB OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA

The Nova Vikings
For weeks after the crash of Flight 5342, Kalle Strid could still see them at Fairfax Ice Arena: Eddie Zhou lugging a backpack full of AP math and chemistry books, Brielle Beyer in the pink dress she so loved, Cory Haynos flashing his bright smile.

The three skaters belonged to a group nicknamed the "Nova Vikings," so called because they were coached by the Swedish-born Strid, an eight-time Danish men's champion, and Mikael Olofsson, a Swedish national medalist.

 "I'll go out there on the ice around the time Edward usually comes, or when Brielle or Cory come, and see something moving up in the corner of the rink, and my brain plays tricks on me," Strid said. "I think they're going to come for a lesson. Obviously, they won't."

'So Much More Left'
Zhou was the heart of his friend group, a 16-year-old junior at Woodson High School in Fairfax, who always offered a hug to a fellow skater having a tough day.

"Eddie would fly out to California for a camp, and come back and he had five more friends," Strid, who coached Zhou since 2015, said. "He watched everybody's results in the whole country. He knew what everybody did, every jump."

The skater's parents, Kaiyan Mao, who worked in finance, and Yu Zhou, a computer programmer, moved from China to the U.S. in 2000 to pursue graduate degrees. Strid recalled how the couple allowed their only child time to develop his skating at his own pace.

"His first juvenile year, I remember he was almost last out of 20 boys at regionals," he said. "His parents let us keep working. I told them to be patient."

Kai and Yu always took the coach out to dinner at events they attended together, and Wichita was no different. The evening before Strid's departure, the three joked about how, since Eddie was getting older, he didn't need his parents to travel with him.
  
"I told them, 'You know, you guys don't both have to come to these things. Eddie and I can come alone, or one of you can come; he is almost a full-grown man,'" Strid said. "But they both always wanted to be there and support him. They were never overbearing parents. They were very trusting; they were very loving."

And the skater continued to improve. His final season, he won two NQS events to earn a spot at Eastern Sectionals, where he placed fourth in novice.

"I always felt Eddie had so much more left, that his time would come, that he just had to keep working," Strid said.

Craving the 'Red Jacket'
Some skaters are able to shrug off errors; others beat themselves up over what they see as a silly mistake. Brielle Beyer belonged to the second group.

The 12-year-old juvenile was hitting most of her triple jumps consistently and working on a triple-triple combination. At sectionals, though, after landing a triple Salchow, Brielle fell on her second double Axel. Strid patted her hand in the kiss and cry, saying, "Don't think about it."

 "She was so afraid she wasn't going to make top four, afraid the mistake would mean not making the camp," he said. "You know, those red jackets they get, it was such a huge thing for her."

Brielle was "all in" on skating, convincing her parents, Justyna and Andy, to homeschool her, telling them, "I have to be able to skate during the day." Both Justyna, a registered nurse, and Andy, a computer programmer, were often at the rink, as was younger brother Kallen, who played hockey.

"Her mom did everything for her daughter to have all the opportunities, to be as good as she could be," Strid said. "Every other day, Justyna spent the whole day at the rink, and they set up an office in one of the corners of the rink (to home-school). Both of (Brielle's) parents were fantastically supportive."

A third-place finish at sectionals got Brielle her ticket to camp and her red jacket. Remembering how joyful his student and her mom were in Wichita gives Strid some solace.

"Brielle was so happy when she learned a new jump, when she practiced something really sharp that she wanted to show me," Strid said. "Her dad and I used to joke that she was a little sun in the rink. When she smiled, everybody smiled."

A Final Triumph
Like Zhou, Cory Haynos, 16, was a student at Woodson High School. And like his close friend, he dreamed of qualifying for the U.S. Championships, and of landing the jump that could take him there:  the triple Axel. He did just that in the days before his death.

"He landed the Axel shortly after sectionals and really wanted to show it at camp," Strid said. "We had a jump competition, but it was early in the morning and it didn't go well. He was sad about it, and we had a long talk on Monday afternoon, about how he would have other chances at the camp. On Tuesday I went home, and I got a text from his mom on Wednesday just before they boarded the flight: He had landed the Axel in front of everybody."

It was Haynos' second comeback of the season. The first was at Eastern Sectionals in November; after placing sixth in the short program, Haynos won the free skate to finish third overall and qualify for the camp.

"His parents were like, 'If Cory makes the camp after being so far behind, we both want to go there and support him,'" Strid said. "They were beyond proud."

Once back in Fairfax, Strid was cutting music for Cory's next free skate: selections from the Gladiator (2000) soundtrack, in honor of the skater's fighting spirit.

"It was his parents' favorite movie," the coach said. "I just finished it editing it, and I texted it to them while they were on the flight, saying they could listen to it when they landed. Unfortunately, they never got to hear it."

UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE FIGURE SKATING CLUB

A Partner's Memories 
When Christie Moxley describes what it was like to skate with Alexandr "Sasha" Kirsanov, it is her Russian-born partner's speed she remembers most.  

"It was really thrilling," Moxley said. "Just having that kind of power and being able to feel the ice differently."

Other memories linger like postcards: Walking the fairy-tale streets of Oberstdorf, Germany, high in the Bavarian Alps, during Nebelhorn Trophy. Practices deep into the night at University of Delaware. Competing at Skate America alongside multiple World and Olympic ice dance medalists, an experience Moxley calls "the pinnacle of our career." 

"When our coaches suggested we do a tryout, I was like, 'He's a really great Russian ice dancer; he'll never skate with me,'" Moxley said. "But the tryout went well. At the time, he competed for Azerbaijan. I said to him, 'I only want to compete for the U.S., and I can't pay for your skating.' He said, 'That's OK — I want to skate with you, I want to skate for the U.S., and I will pay for my skating.' And he did."

Moxley and Kirsanov finished their career in 2004. They coached together for a time, at one point training eight teams. Eventually, Moxley left the field to become a teacher at Caravel Academy Preparatory School, while Kirsanov's coaching business continued to grow. Two of his students, Angela Yang and Sean Kay, perished with him.

"He put so much heart into whatever he did," Moxley said. "People naturally gravitated to him, because he had so much energy. He worked for every penny and gave his daughter [Nicole] a wonderful education, and his daughter and his wife [Natalya Gudin] wonderful lives. He would do anything for those two ladies."

'They Took Juvenile Ice Dance by Storm'
Pattern dances, ice hockey and carpooling bonded Zheheng "Lily" Li and daughter Angela, with Amy Blackburn and her daughter, Denali.

Blackburn can still see and hear the girls giggling in her back seat, on the way to and from the Ion Ice Center in Leesburg, Virginia, chatting about their skating and texting friends.

"She was like a little sister to Denali, another member of the family," Amy said of Angela, who was two years younger than her daughter. "We knew her since she was just the tiniest thing. … What I remember most is her boundless energy. I'm tired fighting the traffic all the way home for an hour, and the two of them are full of silly stories, just talking music, and they're priceless."

Both Amy and Lily had sons who played hockey with travel teams, and daughters who pursued solo ice dance. They lived at the rink, often rising at 4 a.m. to drive kids for practice. It was especially hard on Lily, whose husband Jacob often worked overseas.

"Lily was just the best mom I ever knew, [in terms of] the sacrifices she made to do things for her kids," Amy said. "In itself, it's a lot to be traveling for hockey tournaments, but she did that for her middle child and her older child. She traveled with [Angela] for pattern dancing. She was just very selfless."

When Denali won bronze at the Epinal Solo Ice Dance International in France last December, Lily and Angela watched online and were among the first to text their congratulations.

"I will never forget those nights we talked on the phone, played Roblox, jumped on my trampoline," Denali said. "I will especially remember the positivity she brought to this world."

A little over a year ago, Angela and Lily relocated to Delaware, so the 11-year-old Angela could team up with Sean Kay, also 11, and compete in juvenile ice dance. Under the tutelage of Kirsanov and his wife, Gudin, the youngsters went undefeated during the 2024–25 season, often winning by large margins.

"They were such vibrant kids with great personalities and so incredibly talented," Colin McManus, who coaches at the University of Delaware Ice Arena, said. "They really took juvenile ice dance by storm. I just think of all the performances we will miss from them, what a loss it is to the ice dance community."

All four of Julia and Vitali Kay's children — Samantha, Sean, Skylar and Stellan — trained in ice dance at University of Delaware. Julia balanced tending to her family of skaters with her work as a night nurse.

"She was at the rink all the time," McManus said. "It always really blew my mind that she would manage to work nights and then come in and be there with her kids. The level of dedication and fierce support she had for her children was remarkable."

Just a few days after the tragedy, Vitali brought his three surviving children to the rink to resume training.

"He just looked at us and said, 'Life goes on,' and it's very true," McManus said. "[At the rink] his children can find a sense of normalcy and a community that can come around and truly understand the gravity of what happened. We are all there to wrap our arms around them and help them move forward in whatever way we can."