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Just one year after losing his parents in a tragic plane crash, figure skater Maxim Naumov is headed to the Winter Olympics to represent the United States.
Naumov, 24, was officially named to the United States Olympic team, which will compete in the Milan Cortina games starting February 6. He was among three men named to the figure skating team, along with Ilia Malinin and Andrew Torgashev.
Naumov lost his parents, 1994 world figure skating champions Evgenia “Zhenya” Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, after an American Airlines plane collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, DC, on January 29, 2025.
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Maxim Naumov holds a photo of his parents after competing at the US Figure Skating Championships at the Enterprise Center on January 10, 2026, in St. Louis, Missouri. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
67 lives were lost in the tragic accident, 28 of which were in the figure skating community. Naumov’s parents were among the many who returned from Wichita, Kansas, the site of the US Figure Skating National Development Camp.
Naumov was in Wichita for the camp, but was not on the flight.
Three days before being named to the U.S. Olympic team, Naumov became emotional after skating in his honor at the U.S. Championships, where he showed off a photo of himself as a 3-year-old boy with his parents on either side of him.
“Sharing vulnerability with the audience and feeling them get their energy back has been something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Naumov told reporters after skating.
Maxim Naumov competes at the US Figure Skating Championships at the Enterprise Center on January 10, 2026 in St. Louis. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
His parents were his coaches as he became a potential Olympian. But after their deaths, Naumov didn’t know if he would even try to make the team.
But he stayed true to the goal they always had together and it became a reality.
“That’s what my parents and I, one of our last conversations was exactly about that, and you know, it would mean a lot to me to do that. That’s what we’re fighting for,” Naumov said last Thursday.
Maxim Naumov reacts at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships on March 30, 2025 at TD Garden in Boston. (Erica Denhoff/Sportswire Icon)
The goal has been checked. Now, Naumov hopes to medal in Italy next month.
