Figure skater Maxim Naumov honored his late parents with his short program at the U.S. championships.
Naumov’s parents, both former Olympic skaters, were killed in a plane crash in January 2025.
He held a photo of his parents while awaiting his score, which temporarily put him in first place.
Naumov finished the short program in fourth place and is a contender for a spot on the 2026 U.S. Olympic team.
ST. LOUIS — Maxim Naumov wasn’t going to find out his score alone.
As the 24-year-old figure skater awaited the results of his short program at the U.S. championships on Thursday, he pulled out a photo. It was a picture of him, about 3 years old, holding hands with his mom and dad. It was the first time on the ice with white skates.
Naumov’s parents, Russian Olympic pair skaters Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, were two of the 67 people killed in the January 2025 plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, that devastated the figure skating community. Vadim and Evgenia were two of the 28 coaches, young skaters and parents who were returning from a development camp in Wichita, Kansas, held in conjunction with last year’s 2025 U.S. nationals.
Naumov gave the photo a kiss. All he could think about were their smiles and what they would say to him.
The score was revealed. An 85.72. It put Naumov in first place for the moment. He burst into tears, holding that photo to his face as the crowd erupted in ovation.
It was his parents who got him on the ice, and in one of the biggest moments of his career, they were there to hold him one more time.
“This program is very meaningful to me, and I spent so much time in practice connecting with it and evolving it and developing it to be as good as I can possibly make it,” Naumov told USA TODAY Sports. “To go out there and really share that emotion with everybody has been unreal.”
It’s been an emotional 12 months for Naumov. He didn’t know if he was going to continue competing after he lost his parents. But he decided to return to the ice, and it led to the beautiful moment inside Enterprise Center.
Anticipation had been building. The crowd gave him one of the loudest cheers of the night when he was announced for the warmups, and it only got louder when it was his time to take the ice. He told the NBC broadcast his family has a mantra: We have to fight. He was repeating it in his head as he walked the hallway before his performance.
He admitted it wasn’t a perfect skate, adding his dad probably would’ve told him to be “a little bit more confident.” However, he landed his jumps and avoided any major tumbles. He conveyed the emotions of the skate, the crowd taking the journey alongside him.
“I felt like I learned something new about myself every single competition that I did. Something new to work on after each one, something to focus on, something to drill in training, all leading up to this exact thing right here,” Naumov said. “It wasn’t perfect, but we still did so many of the things that we worked on, and I continue to do so.”
When he finished and he sat on the ice, the audience gave him a standing ovation. He soaked up all of it as he looked around the arena to see all the people applauding him.
“Sharing the vulnerability with the audience and me feeling their energy back has been something I remember for the rest of my life,” he said.
By the end of everyone’s short program, Naumov was in fourth place, less than three points behind third-place Jason Brown. He finished fourth at each of the last three nationals, but there is a chance for him to finish this year on the podium – and possibly achieve more by the end of the weekend.
Naumov is in the conversation to claim one of the three men’s spots the U.S. has for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Ilia Malinin is a shoe-in and Jason Brown will likely get the second selection, but the third spot is completely up for grabs. It could go to Naumov, Tomoki Hiwatashi, Andrew Torgashev or another skater.
Naumov has his eyes set on achieving “the ultimate goal” of his first Winter Olympics. He said one of the last conversations he had with his parents was about making it to Milano Cortina.
If he does get the nod, it won’t just be a major accomplishment, but also one of the biggest stories at the Games. But if he doesn’t, he has shown he is one of the most resilient skaters in the world, becoming someone you can’t help but root for.
“Even at a time like this, having the opportunity to be here again was just another example of how capable I am in really difficult times,” Naumov said.
And he’s done it with mom and dad by his side.
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