01/13/2026
Nearly one year after Maxim Naumov spoke with his parents about what it would take to join them as an Olympian in figure skating, a conversation that would be one of his last with his parents before their tragic deaths, Naumov fulfilled that dream Sunday when he was named to the U.S. figure skating team bound for the Winter Olympics.
Naumov, 24, was one of 16 skaters selected to the U.S. Olympic Team following the U.S. figure skating championships in St. Louis after he finished third Saturday behind U.S. champion Ilia Malinin and runner-up Andrew Torgashev.
Naumov’s parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, were world champion in pairs figure skating in 1994, the year they competed at their second Winter Olympics, representing Russia.
Last January at the 2025 U.S. championships, in Wichita, Kansas, Naumov finished fourth on Jan. 26 and left Wichita on a flight soon after. His parents stayed longer to attend a developmental camp. En route home, their American Airlines flight to Washington collided in midair with a military helicopter over Washington’s Potomac River. The crash killed 67 people, 28 of them athletes, coaches or parents connected to U.S. figure skating.
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