Trading skates for sneakers
In January 2025, six members of the Skating Club of Boston died after their airplane collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing everyone on board. From her dorm on the Heights, finance major Jasmine Lanata ’28 watched the names of her friends and mentors appear in the news: 13-year-old Jinna Han, with whom she’d competed for years, and Han’s mother, Jin; 16-year-old Spencer Lane, a powerful jumper with a contagious smile, and his mother, Christine; and coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, former Olympic pair skaters who had taught at the club for decades. To Lanata, it felt like losing members of an extended family.
“It was devastating,” she recalled. “We’re such a tight-knit community—it touched everyone at the club.”
Lanata started skating at the age of six, and spent 11 years on the Skating Club’s Theatre on Ice team, where she won three world championships while representing Team USA. In the months following the tragedy, she started thinking about ways to honor her friends’ memories while giving back to the club that had shaped much of her adolescence. In May, she met with the club’s membership services director Katharine Steeger and director Mia Bailey to pitch an ambitious idea: entering the Skating Club of Boston for a spot in the Boston Marathon’s prestigious charity program. Steeger was enthusiastic, so Lanata called the Boston Athletic Association and got to work.
Jasmine (left) with Jinna Han
“I was nervous because it’s really competitive to get a charity,” she said. “There were two rounds of applications, and then in September we found out that we got two bibs, which was honestly a huge surprise.”
In addition to skating, Lanata ran cross country in high school and “always dreamed of running Boston.” She and Steeger decided that Lanata would take one entry, and the club would offer the second to a member of its community. In the fall, they selected Jing Tu, whose daughter Iris was coached by Shishkova and Naumov at the time of their passing.
“When Jasmine first shared her idea on how it could support [the club], it truly moved me,” said Bailey. “She’s been part of our club family for years, so when we received two entries, it was clear she would take one, and we wanted the second to go to someone who may be beyond our skating family, but who feels connected to this cause.”
This winter, Lanata ramped up her training, as well as her fundraising. With three months to go until Marathon Monday, she’s raised more than $6,000 to support the skating club’s Always Champions campaign, which will fund two permanent scholarships for promising young skaters. Although she’s no longer a member of Theater on Ice (Lanata skates in BC’s synchronized skating program), the club will always be a source of happy memories.
“We were always there for each other,” she said. “Not just my teammates, but also the coaches, the team moms, the managers—everyone at the club was just super supportive. The six community members we lost really embodied the spirit, dedication, and warmth that make The Skating Club of Boston such a special place.”