Naumov makes Olympic debut after losing parents in tragic crash - ESPN

MILAN — 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, 24, 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.

«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, 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.

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