Professional Figure Skater Spencer Lane Proved Himself a Natural Talent

Late on Jan. 29, 2025, a commercial flight collided mid-air with a military helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington D.C. Both crashed into the Potomac River, and a massive recovery operation is underway.

Among those on the American Airlines flight were several professional figure skaters, including rising star Spencer Lane. Here's everything you need to know about him.

Unlike many of his competitors, Spencer Lane started figure skating later in life. According to a June 2024 post on Golden Skate, the young athlete only got involved in the sport in January 2022 — but his progress had been rapid, proving himself to be a natural talent.

"I'm not sure I ever have heard about a skater who went from doing barely a [single] axel to triples in 2 years' time," the post noted. "When I discovered him, he was just doing his first triple toe loop and hadn't even been skating for 2 years."

By June 2024, Spencer had already mastered a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, a triple loop, a triple Lutz, and even a triple toe loop-euler-triple salchow combination.

These are all highly complex, difficult moves, and for Spencer to nail them in such a short time — just over two years — is nothing short of extraordinary.

Spencer belonged to the Skating Club of Boston, a renowned institution dedicated to "advancing participation, education, and excellence" in ice skating for "people of all ages, abilities, and means."

Founded in 1912, the club boasts a rich history of champions, including legends like Richard Button, Paul Wylie, Jennifer Kirk, Tenley Albright, Stephen Carriere, Marissa Castelli, and Simon Shnapir.

According to his Instagram bio, Spencer took first place at the 2025 Intermediate Eastern Sectionals. In January 2025, the talented skater also attended the National Development Camp and the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

On January 29, Spencer, along with several figure skaters and coaches, were aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport.

Just a few minutes before takeoff, Spencer posted a photo of the plane's right wing on his Instagram Story, with the caption "ICT to DCA," referring to the airport codes for Wichita and Washington D.C.

The U.S. Figure Skating organization confirmed that "several members" of the figure skating community were on the flight, which took off from Wichita, and crashed while approaching Reagan National Airport after the mid-air collision shortly before 9 p.m. EST.

"These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas," the organization said, per ABC News.

The organization continued, "We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available."

At the time of writing, all 64 people aboard the plane and three on the helicopter are feared dead. By the morning of Thursday, January 30, officials confirmed that 28 bodies had been recovered.

During a press conference, Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston, confirmed that Spencer was among those killed in the crash. Five others with ties to the club also died, including Spencer's mother, Christine, skater Jinna Han and her mother, Jin Han, as well as coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova.