Two of the youngest victims of the American Airlines Flight 5342 crash have been identified as 11-year-old Angela Yang and 12-year-old Sean Kay, a talented ice skating duo. The pair were members of the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club and were returning from the National Development Camp in Kansas when their flight collided mid-air with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C.
Yang and Kay had recently won multiple competitions, including first place in the 2025 Midwestern Sectional Singles and U.S. Ice Dance championships. Footage of their performances has since gone viral, showing the young skaters dazzling audiences with their skill. Yang had posted to Instagram on the day of the crash, writing, “I had so, so much fun at the Wichita camp! I’m really gonna miss my friends and all the great coaches!”
Their coach, 46-year-old Alexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, was also among the victims. His widow, Natalia Gudin, expressed her heartbreak, saying, “We always use American Airlines when we go to competitions. This time they go without me, and all of them are gone.” She described Yang and Kay as a “young team with a big future” and said their loss was devastating to the sport.
The figure skating community is mourning not only these young athletes but also several other members who were on board, including skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, as well as world champion coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. The tragedy marks one of the darkest moments in U.S. figure skating history.
