A three-time world champion figure skater and Boston College student is training to run the 2026 Boston Marathon in honor of her friends and mentors who died when an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight last year.
Thirteen-year-old Jinna Han and her mother Jin, 16-year-old Spencer Lane and his mother Christine and coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, all part of the Skating Club of Boston community, were among the 67 people killed in the tragedy over Washington, D.C., in Jan. 2025.
For Jasmine Lanata, 19, who has skated with the club for more than a decade, the victims were more than friends and mentors.
“It’s kind of hard to look back and know that that was the last moment of us on the ice together,” Lanata said, looking at a picture of herself and Jinna following a 2024 performance. “It felt like losing a member of a family almost, growing up there.”
Jinna was a passionate performer with a lively personality, and Spencer was a “fascinating skater” who bonded with the other boys at the club, Lanata said. Shishkova and Naumov were devoted to the club and its athletes, she recalled
“You always saw how much dedication they put into the sport,” Lanata said. “And we all looked up to them as role models.”
Months after the disaster, Lanata approached Skating Club of Boston directors and asked them for permission to run the Boston Marathon and raise money for the club’s “Always Champions” scholarships for young skaters.
“My first thought was, ‘How can I support the club?’” Lanata said. “The club has done so much for me, growing up there. It feels like a home.”
Lanata and Jing Tu, the father of a club skater, were granted charity bibs by the Boston Athletic Association.
In January, on the first anniversary of the tragedy, Jasmine met her $7,500 fundraising requirement.
By Tuesday, she had surpassed $11,000 with an increased goal of $15,000 ahead of Marathon Monday.
Lanata, a Scituate native, is a former track and cross-country runner and completed a half-marathon last year.
As she prepares for April, the BC sophomore knows where her mental endurance and inspiration will come from.
“I remind myself, even on hard runs throughout the winter – which [it] has definitely been because of the snow and the ice – why I’m doing this,” Lanata said. “And it really helps me on hard days.”
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