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≡ ROSEN REPORT II ≡
MILAN, Italy – It’s called men’s Singles, but Maxim Naumov was sure he had company on the ice as he moved through his Olympic Short Program routine.
“I felt almost like a hand on my back pushing me forward,” he said, “and just feeling my parents guiding me from one element to another, and just kind of keeping me grounded.”
His parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, who were also his coaches, were killed on 25 January 2025, when their flight home aboard AA5342 collided with a U.S. Army helicopter following the national championships. Among the 67 casualties were 28 skaters, coaches and family members.
Naumov went home before his parents, the 1994 World Pairs Champions who had stayed in Wichita, Kansas, for a developmental clinic.
He continued skating to honor his parents and achieve the family’s dream of competing in the Olympic Games. Each skater was introduced on the Milano Ice Skating Arena video screen with a quote or motto, and Naumov’s said, “Mom and Dad, this is for you.”
As he skated to Chopin’s “Nocturne No. 20,” Naumov said he felt “almost like a chess piece on a chess board… unlike any other feeling I’ve ever felt.”
And this was unlike any other performance. Naumov posted a season-best score of 85.65 points, markedly better than his previous season high of 76.71.
The 24-year-old qualified for the final in 14th place, while teammate Ilia Malinin leads following the short program with 108.16 points.
Starting with a quad Salchow, Naumov then landed a triple Axel and a triple Lutz-triple Toe Loop combination with no deductions.
“It’s almost like I closed my eyes,” Naumov said, “and I opened them again, and I was on my knees at the end and just looking up and saying, ‘Man, look what we just did.'”
In the “kiss and cry,” Naumov kissed a photo showing his parents holding his hands on the ice when he was a little boy.
“This competition was so different,” said Naumov. “Usually I’m a little jittery and kind of rush a little bit, and I felt none of that here. The calm, the stillness, the confidence. I tried to lean as much into that as I possibly could. And man, it worked to be able to just have 2 minutes and 50 seconds to show what you’ve been working on for 19 years.”
Naumov is grateful for the support from the figure skating community. “I just hope that I made everyone proud,” he said. “And the job’s not finished. One program is down. We have one more to go.”
And he hopes his journey will resonate with others. “You know tragedy and very difficult times will unfortunately happen to all of us at a certain moment in your life,” Naumov said. “I just hope that my story can empower or inspire somebody to continue to push themselves onward, because that’s what we can do. That’s what we have to do.”
In the year since the tragedy, Naumov said the hardship and difficulty have taught him about himself and contributed to his growth as a human being.
Besides feeling his parents’ presence, Naumov was asked to imagine what they would have said to him in this moment.
“Well, I know for a fact that my mom wouldn’t have been here watching that’s for sure,” he said. “She never liked to watch me in person. She would always be refreshing the scores thing and making sure that she’s on top of it, but nervous out of her mind, but supporting me in her own way always.
“My dad would be right next to me and giving me the biggest hug and just saying, ‘I’m proud of you.'”
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