The two Russian figure skating coaches killed in the American Airlines crash were two-time Olympians and former world champions in the pairs event.
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They were also a married couple with a son who finished fourth last week at the US national championships in Wichita, Kansas. Their son was not on the same flight.
Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov won a world championship title together in pairs skating in 1994 and narrowly missed out on Olympic medals that year at the Lillehammer Games before moving to the US and coaching generations of young skaters in New England.
After their son Maxim Naumov skated at the national championships, the 52-year-old Shishkova and her 55-year-old husband stayed in Wichita for a development camp for some of the most promising young skaters in the country.
On Wednesday night, the American Airlines plane they were on collided with a US Army helicopter near Washington and crashed into the frigid waters of the Potomac River.
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There were 60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines flight and three soldiers aboard the Blackhawk helicopter. Hope of rescuing any survivors evaporated by daybreak.