Skating Legends With Strong Simsbury Ties On Ill-Fated Plane: Reports

SIMSBURY, CT — Multiple media reports have identified a couple with strong Simsbury ties as being on board the American Airlines jet that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., Wednesday night.

Authorities said Thursday morning that no survivors are expected from the jet or the military helicopter that collided with it near Reagan National Airport. It is believed 67 are dead.

Two former Russian figure skating stars from the 1990s who once worked at a Simsbury skating center and may have lived in the town were on board.

Both Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, Russian nationals who moved to Simsbury in the 1990s, are presumed dead after the plane crashed after colliding with a helicopter.

The husband-and-wife team were champion pairs skaters in the 1990s, competing in both the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

They failed to medal in the Olympics, but the couple did earn a bronze medal in the 1993 World Figure Skating Championships and won gold in the 1994 World Championships, the second-most prestigious competition behind the Olympics.

Citing Russian media sources, Newsweek reported Naumov was 55 and Shishkova was 52.

Wichita recently hosted the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and the couple was part of a large delegation with ties to U.S. Figure Skating, according to reports.

Newsweek reported the couple had a home in Simsbury, while Fox 61 — citing a 2007 NewEngland.com feature story on the couple — reported they moved to Connecticut in the late 1990s.

It was unclear whether the couple remained in Simsbury. While Newsweek reported they owned a home there, Fox 61 indicated they were working for a skating club out of Boston, Mass.

CT Insider also reported the couple lived in Simsbury.

According to the Dec. 21, 2007 article on NewEngland.com, the couple turned professional in 1998 and, eventually, settled down in Simsbury to work at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in their new hometown.

The couple also had a son in his early 20s, Maxim Naumov, a Simsbury High School graduate who is a figure skater himself and now lives in Massachusetts, Fox 61 reported.

Fox 61 reported the couple formerly worked at the ISCC in Simsbury as coaches.

Constructed in the mid-1990s, the ISCC put Simsbury on the map when 1994 Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul moved to Connecticut and trained there.

Baiul won the gold medal at a time when the whole Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding saga dominated the news back in the 1990s, catapulting the sport to new heights.

The ISCC, meanwhile, continued to attract top-level talent in both skating and coaching, evidenced by Naumov and Shishkova's arrival shortly after Baiul.

Patch has reached out to officials at the ISCC regarding the couple's affiliation with the center.

A Sikorsky-made military helicopter, the UH-60M Black Hawk, was involved in the crash.

A Sikorsky spokesperson provided WFSB 3 with the following statement on Thursday morning.

“We are deeply saddened and send our condolences to those that lost loved ones. We have offered our support to the investigation and our customer. Safety is our top priority.”

• See also: 'I Need You To Land': Audio From Moments Before DC Plane Crash

For the full Fox 61 report, click on this link.

For the full CT Insider report, click on this link.

For the full Newsweek report, click on this link.

For the full article on the Simsbury couple from NewEngland.com in 2007, click on this link.