A teenage figure skater who died in the American Airlines plane crash shared her dreams of representing Team USA in heartbreaking footage taken before her death.
Tributes have poured in for 14-year-old Everly Livingston and her 11-year-old sister, Alydia, who died when American Airlines Flight 5342 and a US military helicopter collided in a huge fireball before plunging into the icy-cold Potomac River near Reagan airport.
In resurfaced footage from last year, Everly, who was then 13, told Fox5 DC about her dreams of representing the USA internationally in the future.
“My goals are to actually be a part of Team USA and travel around the world,” the smiling teen told the reporter in a devastating video.
Alydia, left, and Everly, right, were flying after the US Figure Skating Championships.
The sisters were well-known among figure skaters as the “Ice Skating Sisters,” with nearly 20,000 followers on their shared Instagram account which documented their skating activity.
They had been returning from the US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, along with fellow National Development Camp skaters when they died in the crash between the passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.
Their tragic final Instagram post, shared just four days before their deaths, shows the pair smiling by the ice rink at the championships, with the caption: “If you look closely at Alydia’s badge… We were born ready for this but is @usfigureskating ready for this much Livingston at Nationals?”
Social media has been flooded with tributes for the two girls, described as “angels” who “deserved so much more than this”.
Just hours before their deaths, Everly’s coach Inna Volyanskaya - who also died in the crash - praised her and her partner, Franco, for reaching the national development camp for the second year. “So proud of all their hard work and training they have done to get here. What an amazing way to start off the year!” she wrote on Instagram.
Everly, right, and Inna middle, both died in the crash. They are pictured with Everly’s skating partner, Franco Aparicio.
Anna Amoram, a skater in Miami, commented on Instagram that it had been a “privilege to be able to watch you both grow up into beautiful skaters.”
Another tribute described Everly as a “friend everyone would wish they could have”, adding that she “lit up every room” without fail. Alydia was described as “one of the funniest kids ever” who was “always going round the rink making everyone laugh”.
Everly was “shy and reserved” in comparison with Alydia, one tribute on Facebook read. But she “came alive on the ice — becoming a sectional champion at the intermediate and juvenile levels.”
Two teenagers, two coaches and two parents, from Skating Club Boston also died in the crash, including coaches Evgenia Shishkova and her husband Vadim Naumov, both former figure skating world champions.
Doug Zeghibe, executive director of the club in Norwood, Massachusetts, choked back tears as he confirmed that 16-year-old Spencer Lane and 13-year-old Jinna Han, along with their moms Christine Lane and Jin Han, respectively, perished aboard the flight.
“Spencer, in the best way possible, was a crazy kid,” Zeghibe said. “Highly talented, has not been skating that long and has been rocketing to the top of the sport. Very fun, very cerebral. Jinna, just a wonderful kid. A great athlete, great competitor. Loved by all,” he said.
Zeghibe said their moms were “dedicated” and always “made sacrifices.”
