2/7/2025

EAGLE RIVER - A skating coach that traveled to Eagle River several times a year to work with promising young skaters was one of the 67 killed in the recent plane crash near Washington DC. Alexander “Sasha” Kirsanov competed professionally in Russia, then moved to the U.S. to skate and then later in his career to coach. Sasha was remembered by members of the Eagle River Figure Skating Club. A coach who’d worked with Kirsanov said he had a talent for making the rink a comfortable place, filled with hard work but also love and joy. His trips to work with skaters at Eagle River are indelibly etched into everyone’s memories and many said that his loss has made skating take on a new meaning for them. The Eagle River Skating Club will be collecting any memories or quotes that they have from Sasha Kirsanov and will be putting them in a book to be given to his wife and daughter. They’re asking anyone who’d like to contribute to that memorial to contact the Eagle River Skating Club.