Once again, figure skaters representing the past, present and future of the sport perished in a catastrophic plane crash.

Reigning World Champion figure skater Illia Malinin, who won the competition in Wichita that his teammates had left from before dying in the plane crash in DC, posted on Instagram on Thursday, Jan. 30 that he was 'heartbroken' by their deaths.

All 64 people aboard a flight from Wichita, Kansas – 60 passengers and four crew members – and the three soldiers on a U.S. Army helicopter were believed dead after the two aircraft collided in a fiery explosion near Washington,

Evegnia Shiskova and Vadim Naumov, the 1994 World Figure Skating champions in pairs representing Russia, were among the 64 passengers killed aboard American Airlines 5342. Their son Maxim Naumov, a competitive figure skater,

The two Russian figure skating coaches killed in the American Airlines crash were two-time Olympians and former world champions in the pairs event.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington on Wednesday night,

Russian-born ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington on Wednesday night,