Potomac Crash

13-year-old figure skater, a rising star and ‘jalapeño,' mourned after DC crash

Jinna Han had a passion for figure skating that was evident to everyone at the Skating Club of Boston — including when she spoke to NBC10 Boston about her Olympic dreams in 2022

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NBC10 Boston interviewed Jinna Han during the 2022 Olympics. The skater, who hoped to make the Games herself, is one of six members of the Skating Club of Boston who was killed in the midair collision in Washington.

In 2022, 10-year-old figure skater Jinna Han spoke to NBC10 Boston about her big dreams: "to go to the Olympics and try to get a gold medal."

She also talked gleefully about the excitement of watching the Beijing Olympics, featuring star American Nathan Chen.

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 "It's like, who's going to win, what's going to happen? Because anything can happen at the Olympics," she said.

Young skaters at a rink in Boston explain why they look up to Olympian Nathan Chen.
During the 2022 Beijing Olympics, 10-year-old Jinna Han, a member of the Skating Club of Boston, spoke about her excitement for the figure skating competition and her own Olympic dreams — "probably 2032?" Jinna died in the mid-air collision between American Airlines Fight 5342 and a military helicopter over Washington, D.C. on Jan. 29, 2025. She was 13.

Three years later and Jinna was well on her way — until the recently turned 13-year-old's burgeoning career was cut tragically short on American Airlines Flight 5342, when it collided with a military helicopter while landing at Washington, D.C. Wednesday night.

Jinna and her mother, who lived in Mansfield, Massachusetts, were among the six members of the Skating Club of Boston who died in the crash. The Hans, another teenage skater and his mother and a pair of beloved Russian coaches were remembered with love and sorrow Thursday.

A makeshift memorial to Jinna Han, Jin Han, Spencer Lane, Christine Lane, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shisova at the Skating Club of Boston on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025
Marc Vasconcellos/The Enteprise / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Marc Vasconcellos/The Enteprise / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
A makeshift memorial to Jinna Han, Jin Han, Spencer Lane, Christine Lane, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shisova at the Skating Club of Boston on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.

Jinna had been attending a high performance camp in Wichita for some of the nation's most promising skaters.

"Our star skater," said Olga Ganicheva, who, along with her husband Aleksey Letov, were Jinna's coaches. "Her nickname was 'Jinna Starina,' like a star, that's how we call her, 'Jinna Starina.'"

Ganicheva worked with Jinna for the last four years, sometimes up to 10 hours a day, six or seven days a week.

She says Jinna excelled at both the athletic and artistic components of the sport.

"The way she feels, the way she skates, the way she performs, the way she jumps, everything," said Ganicheva. "Very special kid."

"Back when I was their age, they would have blown me out of the water. Even Jinna," Team USA figure skater Jimmy Ma said at the Norwood club, saying the girl was 10 times better than he was at that age.

He and his girlfriend, Thai skater Thames Silpa-Archa, knew the Han family well.

"My mom called her a jalapeño, she's got that fire in her eyes," Ma said.

Watch Team USA figure skater Jimmy Ma and Skating Club of Boston junior coaches Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov discuss the tragic loss of six members of the club in a plane crash over Washington, D.C. Follow NBC10 Boston: https://instagram.com/nbc10boston https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston https://twitter.com/NBC10Boston https://bsky.app/profile/nbcboston.com

Jinna was described as a rising star by many on Thursday, and not just for how she skated.

"Jinna was an absolutely beautiful spirit on and off the ice. She almost made it a mission to say hi to absolutely everyone, and you could just tell that she was absolutely in love with the sport and her parents are just the most supportive parents out there," club choreographer Adam Blake said.

Ganicheva says Jinna's mom, Jin, who also died in the crash, was supportive of all the skaters at the club.

"Sometimes skating moms can be difficult, but this mom, she believes, she trusts, she respects," said Ganicheva.

Ganicheva says Jinna was the future of U.S. figure skating.

Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe compared her to Dr. Tenley Albright, the first American woman to win gold in figure skating and a member of the club who was there in mourning Thursday, too.

"She was in it to win it, like in a Tenley way, full of grace. A serious competitor but so nice about it and so supportive of her fellow competitors," Zeghibe said.

U.S. figure skating champion and Olympian Nancy Kerrigan reacts to the tragic plane crash that killed six members of the Skating Club of Boston, where she used to train as a teen skater.
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