The skating community continues to mourn as many of those killed in the devastating plane crash outside Reagan National Airport nearly three weeks ago were returning from events surrounding the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Kansas.
“We’ve been leaning on each other a lot, and we’ve been loving on each other a lot,” said Cass Cross, a skating coach in Ashburn, Virginia.
Among the victims was 14-year-old Everly Livingston, one of Cross’ students.
Their relationship began when Livingston was just 5 years old.
“From the time she was little, she had the joy, which is what you always want to see in young skaters, but that joy never faded for her,” Cross said. “When she passed her very first skills test, I can still see the sparkles on her cheeks.”
“It’s a memory of Everly that I hold very close,” Cross added, with tears in her eyes.
Livingston wasn’t alone on the plane. She had been traveling with her 11-year-old sister, as well as their mother and father. Cross said the skating community was shaken to its core by the crash.
“The friendships that come from a rink are so important,” she said. “It’s a small community, and so, we become truly family.”
Cross expressed gratitude for the upcoming figure skating tribute, “Legacy on Ice,” set for March 2 at Capital One Arena, calling it an “opportunity for us to heal.”
Twenty-eight members of the figure skating community were among the 67 people killed when an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight and crashed into the Potomac River on Jan. 29.
The event at Capital One Arena will be cohosted by 1988 Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano and feature performances by 2024 world champion Ilia Malinin, two-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn and some of the sport’s most recognizable names, including Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton.
Proceeds from the show will benefit the U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund, the Greater Washington Community Foundation’s DCA Together Relief Fund and the D.C. Fire & EMS Foundation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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