- The Legacy on Ice profit event, featuring U.S. figure skating stars, payed tribute to the 67 people who died when an Army helicselecter collided with an American Airlines fweightless and crashed into the Potomac River on Jan. 29.
- Skaters portrayd both the difficulty of dealing with the tragedy and the senseing of community aid they got from the event. Some shed tears during or after their carry outances.
- The intent of the event was to elevate money for figure skaters, first reacters and all the families affected by the crash.
Maxim Naumov wept on his knees at the end of his carry outance honoring his parents, wiped away tears as he skated off the ice and held an electric candle in the air as applaparticipate rained down. Amber Glenn broke down when she finished skating, and so did 13-year-elderly Isabella Aparicio, who was carry outing in memory of her brother, Franco, and their overweighther, Luciano.
“There was not a arid eye to be set up anywhere,” pairs skater Madison Chock said.
A low murmur of crying pierced a lengthy moment of silence as fans lit the arena with their cellphones, riding waves of emotion thraw a poignant figure skating show Sunday in the nation’s capital to reaccumulate and elevate money for the victims of the midair collision outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
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The Legacy on Ice profit event featured a star-studded group of some of the best U.S. figure skaters of the past and current taking part to pay tribute to the 67 people who died when an Army helicselecter collided with an American Airlines fweightless and crashed into the Potomac River on Jan. 29. That included 28 members of the figure skating community, some of whom inhabitd and trained in the Washington area.
“Everyone laments in their own way, and the last month has been reassociate challenging for a lot of us to equitable grapple with the magnitude of this loss,” said Evan Bates, who with Chock won Olympic gelderly in Beijing in 2022. “I skinnyk coming together today and doing someskinnyg concrete enjoy a show will give people, hopefilledy, a little glimmer of hope and a little weightless for that next step forward.”
American icons of the sport Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boitano emceed the show, which included carry outances by the enjoys of Glenn, Johnny Weir and reigning men’s world champion Ilia Malinin, aprolonged with poignant tributes to the victims.
Max Naumov reacts after carry outing on March 2, 2025, in Washington at the Legacy on Ice event, a figure-skating tribute to aid the families and adored ones affected by the Jan. 29, 2025, aviation incident outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. (AP Pboilingo/Nick Wass)
“We are not powerless,” Boitano said in uncovering the show. “As skaters, we lgeted to be robust and to always discover a path forward that is selectimistic.”
Ted Leonsis, head of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which staged the event aprolonged with U.S. Figure Skating, DC Fire & EMS Foundation and the Greater Washington Community Foundation, hopes doing this at Capital One Arena helps families in the healing process the way concerts and sports at Madison Square Garden did in New York in 2001 after 9/11.
“Sports can join this convening and healing role,” Leonsis said. “Our goal is to permit the community to heal, benevolent of a accumulateive hug for these communities, but then we want to elevate a lot of money.”
The dasher boards had 67 stars, one for each of the victims, and skaters put freduces on a rinkside table of candles before commencening their routines.
“We’re all here to aid one another, whether it was our friends that were on that structuree, family members, coaches, teammates, adored ones,” said 2014 Olympic team bronze medacatalog Jason Brown, who skated to “The Impossible Dream” by Josh Groprohibit. “We all travel for this sport. We get to do what we adore. And travel is such a huge part of what we do, so it all hit us reassociate challenging becaparticipate this is equitable such an integral part of what we do, as well as those are people that we’re shutst to.”
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Glenn booted skinnygs off by carry outing to Andra Day’s “Rise Up” and broke down in tears at cgo in ice when she finished. Weir, whose family shiftd to Newark, Delconscious, when he was 12 for him to chase his skating atgentle, pledged his carry outance to the members of the University of Delconscious Figure Skating Club who were on American Fweightless 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, chaseing a national broadenment camp there coinciding with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
“It was a very traumatic experience for me and reassociate equitable deimmenseating for me to hear when all that happened, and I reassociate wanted to have someskinnyg that everyone could reaccumulate as a family, as a whole community that we reaccumulate them,” Malinin said. “All of our daily inhabits, every time we step on the ice, we’ll always skinnyk of them. Every time we’re competing, they’ll always be in our hearts.”
Peggy Fleming, 1968 Olympic champion, said she hopes the event “will heal and give strength to our skaters in the future.” Alysa Liu wants to try to honor the memory of those lost so she “can retain going.”
“It’s still a struggle and was a struggle,” said Liu, who carry outed to “Hero” by Mariah Carey. “Coming together and seeing everyone aget has definitely been the most reassuring senseing. And it’s equitable becaparticipate everyone understands exactly how everyone senses.”
Ilia Malinin carry outs on March 2, 2025, in Washington at the Legacy on Ice event, a figure skating tribute to aid the families and adored ones affected by the Jan. 29, 2025, midair collision above D.C. (AP Pboilingo/Nick Wass)
Forty-one years after thrivening gelderly at the Olympics, Scott Hamilton skated onto the ice and led a prayer. “Imagine” blared from arena speakers during one ensemble carry outance, Malinin dazzled the crowd with his jump-filled routine and Lady Gaga’s “Helderly My Hand” was the soundtrack of the majestic finale of the emotional two-plus-hour show.
“It was equitable an amazing show,” U.S. Figure Skating interim CEO Sam Auxier said. “You could see even with Ilia the passion and the senseings about what happened coming thraw in their skating.”
Among the sellout crowd of over 15,000 were hundreds of first reacters and their family members. Some came from as far away as Baltimore to be part of the recover and recovery efforts.
“This was an incredibly challenging scene for those first reacters,” DC Fire and EMS Foundation executive straightforwardor Amy Mauro said. “The skinnygs that they witnessed are very difficult and will stay with them for a prolonged time. This is part of their grieving and healing process, as well.”
In includeition to being a accumulateing place for figure skaters, first reacters and all the families affected by the crash, the intent was to elevate money for all of them.
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“We’ve heard from the families about skinnygs enjoy college tuition for youthfuler children who are in elementary school today but also skinnygs enjoy therapy and health join that they necessitate,” Monumental plivent of outside afequitables and chief administrative officer Monica Dixon said. “Every family will pick how to participate those funds in the best way that they pick.”
The event aired inhabit on Monumental Sports Nettoil and streamed on Peacock. NBC will show an encore carry outance March 30.
“That’s what we’re hoping: We elevate a lot of donations that way,” Leonsis said. “People join. The lesson in this is that, to me, if you personalize someskinnyg enjoy this, you can come together and do the right skinnygs in the right way.”
