Figure skating titans come together for emotional event benefiting victims of DC plane crash

• The Legacy connected Ice payment event, featuring U.S. fig skating stars, payed tribute to the 67 radical who died erstwhile an Army chopper collided with an American Airlines formation and crashed into the Potomac River connected Jan. 29.
• Skaters described some the trouble of dealing with the calamity and the feeling of assemblage enactment they got from the event. Some shed tears during oregon aft their performances.
• The intent of the lawsuit was to rise wealth for fig skaters, archetypal responders and each the families affected by the crash.

Maxim Naumov wept connected his knees astatine the extremity of his show honoring his parents, wiped distant tears arsenic helium skated disconnected the crystal and held an electrical candle successful the aerial arsenic applause rained down. Amber Glenn broke down erstwhile she finished skating, and truthful did 13-year-old Isabella Aparicio, who was performing successful representation of her brother, Franco, and their father, Luciano.

"There was not a adust oculus to beryllium recovered anywhere," pairs skater Madison Chock said.

A debased murmur of crying pierced a lengthy infinitesimal of soundlessness arsenic fans lit the arena with their cellphones, riding waves of emotion done a poignant fig skating amusement Sunday successful the nation's superior to retrieve and rise wealth for the victims of the midair collision extracurricular Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

DC PLANE CRASH: VICTIM'S FAMILY SEEKS $250 MILLION IN FIRST LEGAL ACTION SINCE DEADLY COLLISION

The Legacy connected Ice payment lawsuit featured a star-studded radical of immoderate of the champion U.S. fig skaters of the past and contiguous taking portion to wage tribute to the 67 radical who died erstwhile an Army chopper collided with an American Airlines formation and crashed into the Potomac River connected Jan. 29. That included 28 members of the fig skating community, immoderate of whom lived and trained successful the Washington area.

"Everyone grieves successful their ain way, and the past period has been truly challenging for a batch of america to conscionable grapple with the magnitude of this loss," said Evan Bates, who with Chock won Olympic golden successful Beijing successful 2022. "I deliberation coming unneurotic contiguous and doing thing tangible similar a amusement volition springiness people, hopefully, a small glimmer of anticipation and a small airy for that adjacent measurement forward."

American icons of the athletics Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boitano emceed the show, which included performances by the likes of Glenn, Johnny Weir and reigning men's satellite champion Ilia Malinin, on with poignant tributes to the victims.

Max Naumov reacts aft performing connected March 2, 2025, successful Washington astatine the Legacy connected Ice event, a figure-skating tribute to enactment the families and loved ones affected by the Jan. 29, 2025, aviation incidental extracurricular Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

"We are not powerless," Boitano said successful opening the show. "As skaters, we learned to beryllium resilient and to ever find a way guardant that is positive."

Ted Leonsis, caput of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which staged the lawsuit on with U.S. Figure Skating, DC Fire & EMS Foundation and the Greater Washington Community Foundation, hopes doing this astatine Capital One Arena helps families successful the healing process the mode concerts and sports astatine Madison Square Garden did successful New York successful 2001 aft 9/11.

"Sports tin play this convening and healing role," Leonsis said. "Our extremity is to let the assemblage to heal, benignant of a corporate hug for these communities, but past we privation to rise a batch of money."

The dasher boards had 67 stars, 1 for each of the victims, and skaters enactment flowers connected a rinkside array of candles earlier opening their routines.

"We’re each present to enactment 1 another, whether it was our friends that were connected that plane, household members, coaches, teammates, loved ones," said 2014 Olympic squad bronze medalist Jason Brown, who skated to "The Impossible Dream" by Josh Groban. "We each question for this sport. We get to bash what we love. And question is specified a immense portion of what we do, truthful it each deed america truly hard due to the fact that this is conscionable specified an integral portion of what we do, arsenic good arsenic those are radical that we’re closest to."

GRIEVING FATHER OF DC PLANE CRASH PILOT CALLS OUT GOVERNMENT ON AIR REGULATIONS: 'WRITTEN IN BLOOD'

Glenn kicked things disconnected by performing to Andra Day’s "Rise Up" and broke down successful tears astatine halfway crystal erstwhile she finished. Weir, whose household moved to Newark, Delaware, erstwhile helium was 12 for him to prosecute his skating career, dedicated his show to the members of the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club who were connected American Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, pursuing a nationalist improvement campy determination coinciding with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

"It was a precise traumatic acquisition for maine and truly conscionable devastating for maine to perceive erstwhile each that happened, and I truly wanted to person thing that everyone could retrieve arsenic a family, arsenic a full assemblage that we retrieve them," Malinin said. "All of our regular lives, each clip we measurement connected the ice, we’ll ever deliberation of them. Every clip we’re competing, they’ll ever beryllium successful our hearts."

Peggy Fleming, 1968 Olympic champion, said she hopes the lawsuit "will heal and springiness spot to our skaters successful the future." Alysa Liu wants to effort to grant the representation of those mislaid truthful she "can support going."

"It’s inactive a conflict and was a struggle," said Liu, who performed to "Hero" by Mariah Carey. "Coming unneurotic and seeing everyone again has decidedly been the astir reassuring feeling. And it’s conscionable due to the fact that everyone knows precisely however everyone feels."

Ilia Malinin performs connected March 2, 2025, successful Washington astatine the Legacy connected Ice event, a fig skating tribute to enactment the families and loved ones affected by the Jan. 29, 2025, midair collision supra D.C. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Forty-one years aft winning golden astatine the Olympics, Scott Hamilton skated onto the crystal and led a prayer. "Imagine" blared from arena speakers during 1 ensemble performance, Malinin dazzled the assemblage with his jump-filled regular and Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" was the soundtrack of the expansive finale of the affectional two-plus-hour show.

"It was conscionable an astonishing show," U.S. Figure Skating interim CEO Sam Auxier said. "You could spot adjacent with Ilia the passionateness and the feelings astir what happened coming done successful their skating."

Among the sellout assemblage of implicit 15,000 were hundreds of archetypal responders and their household members. Some came from arsenic acold distant arsenic Baltimore to beryllium portion of the rescue and betterment efforts.

"This was an incredibly challenging country for those archetypal responders," DC Fire and EMS Foundation enforcement manager Amy Mauro said. "The things that they witnessed are precise hard and volition enactment with them for a agelong time. This is portion of their grieving and healing process, arsenic well."

In summation to being a gathering place for fig skaters, archetypal responders and each the families affected by the crash, the intent was to rise wealth for each of them.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"We’ve heard from the families astir things similar assemblage tuition for young children who are successful simple schoolhouse contiguous but besides things similar therapy and wellness attraction that they need," Monumental president of outer affairs and main administrative serviceman Monica Dixon said. "Every household volition take however to usage those funds successful the champion mode that they choose."

The lawsuit aired unrecorded connected Monumental Sports Network and streamed connected Peacock. NBC volition amusement an encore show March 30.

"That’s what we’re hoping: We rise a batch of donations that way," Leonsis said. "People care. The acquisition successful this is that, to me, if you personalize thing similar this, you tin travel unneurotic and bash the close things successful the close way."