Sports
“With every glide and step that I made on the ice, I couldn’t help but feel their support.”
Maxim Naumov of the United States competes during the men’s figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. Ashley Landis / AP
updated on February 10, 2026 | 3:56 PM
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MILAN (AP) — U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov carried the memory of his late parents with him to the Olympics on Tuesday night, delivering an emotional, heartfelt short program at the Milan Cortina Games that fulfilled a dream they had long shared together.
Former pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among the 67 people killed — more than two dozen of them members of the figure skating community — when American Airlines Flight 5342 crashed into a military helicopter on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport and fell into the icy Potomac River on Jan. 29, 2025.
One of the last conversations Naumov had with his parents was about what it would take to make the Olympics.
“I’ve been inspired by them since day 1, ever since we stepped on the ice together,” said Naumov, who brought an old photograph of that moment to the kiss-and-cry at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, the little tyke standing between his parents as he stepped foot on the ice for the first time, the three of them all smiling for the camera.
Maxim Naumov of the United States waits for his scores while holding a photo of his parents after competing during the men’s figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. Francisco Seco / AP
“It’s not necessarily thinking about them specifically,” Naumov said, “but their presence. Feeling their presence. With every glide and step that I made on the ice, I couldn’t help but feel their support, almost like a chess piece on a chess board.”
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.
Stephanie Scarbrough / AP
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.”
Ashley Landis / AP
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.
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.
Christophe Ena / AP
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.”
