Maxim Naumov was 24 when his parents died. On January 29, 2025, his mother Evgenia Shishkova and father Vadim Naumov were on an American Airlines flight from Wichita to Washington D.C. when it collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River. Sixty-seven people died. Twenty-eight had direct ties to U.S. figure skating.
Maxim had just competed at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, finishing fourth. His parents were heading home on a later flight.
They had been champions themselves—Vadim and Evgenia won the World Championship in pairs figure skating in 1994 and represented Russia at two Olympic Games. They'd built their lives around the sport, and they'd built Maxim's life around it too. He grew up in rinks, watching excellence up close, learning that skating was both art and discipline.
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Start Your News DetoxIn the months after the crash, Maxim could have stopped. The grief was real. The loss was absolute. But he knew something his parents had taught him through their own careers: the rink is where you process, where you honor, where you continue.
A Year of Dedication
He trained through 2025 with a single focus—making the U.S. Olympic team for Milano Cortina 2026. Not to escape the loss. To move through it. To prove that what his parents built in him was worth carrying forward.
At the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis this month, Maxim skated well enough to secure his spot on the Olympic team. In an interview with Hoda Kotb after the competition, he held a childhood photo of himself with both parents, all three in skates. "In my heart, I told them, 'We did it. We did it together,'" he said.
He wasn't exaggerating. Every technical element he'd landed, every program he'd refined, every moment of mental toughness—it was built on their foundation. "I would not be where I am without the love and dedication of my mom and dad," he told reporters.
The figure skating community has been watching. Fans have flooded social media with messages of support, many acknowledging both his grief and his talent as inseparable parts of the same story. They want to see him skate not despite what happened, but because of who he's always been—a skater shaped by champions, now carrying their legacy into one of sport's biggest stages.
Maxim Naumov will represent Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics. His parents will be there in the way that matters most: in every jump, every spin, every moment he's spent becoming the skater he was always meant to be.
