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U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov honored the memory of his late parents with a poignant and heartfelt performance during the short program at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Tuesday night. This moment represented the fulfillment of a shared dream he had with his parents.
Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, former world champions in pairs figure skating, were tragically among the 67 victims, including over two dozen from the figure skating community, who perished when American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport. The crash occurred on January 29, 2025, leading the plane to plunge into the icy waters of the Potomac River.
One of Naumov’s final conversations with his parents revolved around the effort and dedication required to reach the Olympics.
“I’ve been inspired by them from day one, ever since we first stepped on the ice together,” Naumov shared. He brought a treasured photograph to the kiss-and-cry area at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, capturing the moment when, as a young boy, he first set foot on the ice between his smiling parents.
“It’s not just about thinking of them specifically,” Naumov explained, “but feeling their presence. With every glide and step on the ice, I could feel their support, as if I were a chess piece being guided on a chessboard.”
What made one of the feel-good stories of the Winter Games even more special was the performance.
While a long shot to make the top 10 at the Olympics, much less land on the podium, the 24-year-old Naumov nevertheless had one of the best short programs of his career. He opened with a quad salchow as his godmother, Gretta Bogdan, watched from the stands, and he followed up with a triple axel and a triple lutz-triple toe loop to finish out the program.
As the last notes of “Nocturne No. 20” by Frederic Chopin reverberated through the arena, and the crowd rose to its feet, Naumov slid to a stop on his knees and looked to the sky, telling his parents: “Look at what we’ve done.”
“I didn’t know if I was going to cry, smile or laugh,” he said afterward, “and all I could do was look up at them. And man, I still can’t believe what just happened. I think it’s going to take me a few hours or maybe a few weeks to know.”
The plane carrying Naumov’s parents also had aboard 11 young skaters, two other coaches and several family members who had been attending a development camp in Wichita, Kansas, following the 2025 national championships.
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Naumov had flown out earlier, shortly after he had finished in fourth place for the third consecutive year.
He has recalled those first weeks after the plane crash, when little things like getting out of bed seemed impossible.
“I just wanted to rot, basically,” he told The Associated Press, though he willed himself to rise anyway.
Naumov soon realized he could find a purpose in lacing up his skates again. The idea of fulfilling the Olympic dream he harbored with his parents pushed him on. And when he finished third at the U.S. championships in January, his spot was all-but secured.
“To be honest,” Naumov said Tuesday night, “I wasn’t thinking about executing anything perfectly or anything like that. I wanted to go out there and just give my heart out. Leave everything out there. Have no regrets. And that’s exactly what I felt.”
In the crowd, dozens of American flags waved when Naumov’s program came to a conclusion. At one end of the arena, a fan held up a big flag that read, “Tomorrow’s Champions,” and carried the logo of the Skating Club of Boston – “Tomorrow’s Champions” is the name of the skating school there that his parents founded and Naumov now oversees.
“I love those guys,” he told AP, smiling.
The work isn’t done for Naumov at the Milan Cortina Olympics, though. His score of 85.65 was enough to make it through the short program, giving him another opportunity to perform when the men’s free skate takes place Friday night.
“From the time that my name was announced in the warm-up to right before the skate,” Naumov said, “I felt it – just the crowd, the energy, the roar. It’s like a buzz, you know? In your body. I couldn’t help but just embrace it. Embrace that love.”
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