'We are a family': US skaters rally in grief as crash anniversary nears

Jan 21 : Nearly a year after a mid-air collision in Washington killed 67 people including 28 members of the U.S. figure skating community, athletes say the tight-knit sport is even more united, rallying around bereaved parents, coaches and teammates.

The Jan. 29, 2025 crash above the Potomac River involved an American Airlines regional jet on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.

All aboard both aircraft were killed, among them some of the country's most promising young skaters plus parents and coaches travelling home after a national development camp held following the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

Skater Amber Glenn said the tragedy reshaped the sport's sense of togetherness.

"It's hard to put into words how much that affected all of us and the families and just made us really come together as a community to appreciate each other," Glenn, who won her third consecutive U.S. title earlier this month, told Reuters.

"To lose not just the children, but the coaches, the parents, it was something that was so unexpected and hard, but we're all grieving and moving forward together."

NAUMOV HONOURS PARENTS

Among the dead were the parents of U.S. men's skater Maxim Naumov - Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, the 1994 world champions in pairs who later became coaches.

Naumov, 24, was named to his first Olympic team this month, a breakthrough that came after a season in which he repeatedly skated in public with his loss close to the surface.

Alysa Liu, a gold-medal favourite for the Winter Games coming up in February at Milano-Cortina who majors in psychology at college, said the deaths forced a hard reckoning with why athletes compete.

"I feel like it