Victims of the plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday night were contestants in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held from January 20 to January 26 in Wichita,

Several members' of the U.S. Figure Skating community were onboard the American Airlines plane that collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter over Washington, D.C., the governing body said in a statement.

The European figure skating championships have carried on, even as the skating world mourned athletes who died when an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.

Former winner Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia took a slim lead in the women's singles at the European figure skating championships after Wednesday's short programme. Earlier, Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin posted the highest score in the pairs short programme.