Alexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, 46, was a beloved local figure skating coach and retired international ice dancer.
Kirsanov, who lived in Newark, Delaware, but coached at Ice World in Abingdon, was among 67 people killed in a plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night, confirmed Black Bear Sports Group, which owns the Harford County ice rink.
“In his many years with Ice World, Sasha coached, mentored, and made such an incredible impact not only on our young skaters but on so many who knew and loved him,” Black Bear Sports Group wrote on X. “His absence will be felt deeply, along with the loss of so many others with so much promise and life to live from our close-knit ice skating community.”
He is survived by his wife, Natalya Gudin, and his daughter, Nicole Kirsanov, a competitive ice dancer. Attempts to reach them were unsuccessful.
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In an Instagram story, Nicole Kirsanov wrote: “I miss you dad, I would do anything to bring you back and tell you that I loved you one more time 💔🕊 .”
After attending a national training camp held in tandem with the U.S. national figure skating championship, Alexandr Kirsanov was headed home Wednesday evening on American Airlines flight No. 5342, which departed from Wichita, Kansas.
The small passenger jet, set to land before 9 p.m. Wednesday, collided on the approach with an Army Black Hawk helicopter above the Potomac River. There were no survivors.
Kirsanov was traveling with two of his skating students, Sean Kay and Angela Yang, both of Delaware. He coached these young skaters with his wife.
“I lost everything. I lost my husband. I lost my students. I lost my friends,” Gudin told ABC News.
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Gudin and her husband had decided only one of them would travel with their students to Wichita. The last time she spoke to him was before he boarded the plane. Kirsanov was supposed to call her when he landed at Reagan.
She never got the call.
As an ice dancer, Kirsanov represented Russia, Azerbaijan and the United States. He earned a top-five finish at the 2004 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and a bronze medal at the 2003 Nebelhorn Trophy annual international competition.
Upon retirement, Kirsanov began coaching and choreography. He worked with skaters at the University of Delaware and at the Chesapeake Figure Skating Club of Maryland.
Jodie Timmins, president of the Chesapeake Figure Skating Club, told The Banner that Kirsanov was “the best coach.”
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“He was strict on the ice, but off the ice he had the best laugh, the best sense of humor,” Timmins said. “An all-around really fun guy.”
Kirsanov would commute to Ice World’s Abingdon rink — home ice of Chesapeake Figure Skating — at least twice a week and stay the entire day. He hated missing a lesson, Timmins said, because he cared so deeply for his skaters. Kirsanov wanted to help his skaters become the best versions of themselves on the ice and off.
“He had a smile for everyone,” Timmins said. “If you were his friend, you were lucky.”
Grief counselors will be at Ice World on Saturday morning and Tuesday evening, Timmins wrote on Facebook. The skating club is planning a celebration of life.
The University of Delaware Figure Skating Club is hosting a memorial service for Kirsanov, Kay and Yang at the college’s Fred Rust Ice Arena at 10 a.m. Sunday.
“Sasha was more than just a coach — he was a mentor, a friend, and a light in the skating world,” Melissa Maldonado, the university skating club’s president, wrote on Facebook. “There are no words to describe the depth of this loss, but we will carry his love for skating and his incredible spirit with us always.”
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