section_path: Casualties/Figure skating community
section_name: Figure skating community
paragraph_text: Figure skating community
  
  Among the passengers on the jet were 28 U.S. Figure Skating athletes, coaches, and family members returning from a national development camp held in conjunction with the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. This included eleven skaters, aged 11–16; thirteen parents; and four coaches.
  
  The coaches were all former Soviet/Russian figure skaters. Inna Volyanskaya also had competed in pairs while Alexandr Kirsanov competed in ice dance. It was the second time members of the U.S. Figure Skating team died in an aviation accident, after the 1961 crash of Sabena Flight 548 in Belgium. A former competitor said that ever since that crash, it had been rare to see so many American skaters flying together. Due to the low number of any other direct passenger flights between Wichita and the East Coast, Flight 5342 was the most direct route home for visitors from the Northeast. Most of the athlete victims were too young to be viable candidates for the 2026 Winter Olympics but were eligible for the 2030 Winter Olympics.
  
  Among the prominent members of the figure skating community killed in the crash were Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who had won gold medals in pair skating at the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships. The two had a son, Maxim Naumov, who is also a figure skater. He was not on the flight because took another flight two days earlier. On March 2, 2025, Naumov would perform alongside others at Legacy on Ice, a two-hour tribute show held at Capital One Arena in honor of the victims of the crash. His performance was set to "his parents' favorite song", as well as a rendition of Ave Maria, during which he was joined by other skaters. After the performance, he broke down in tears on the ice.