A 24-year-old figure skater was named to the 2026 U.S. Olympic team a year after losing his parents in a plane crash. Maxim Naumov, son of the 1994 World Figure Skating pairs champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, is one of three men representing the U.S. at the upcoming Milan Winter Olympic Games. He is joined by Ilia Malinin and Andrew Torgashev. “We did it! God is good. Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family, and it’s what I’ve been thinking about since I’m five years old,” he said at the team announcement event in St. Louis on Sunday. “So I can’t say into words how much this means to me.” Just last week, Naumov broke down in tears after honoring his parents at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. He held up a photo of himself as a three-year-old boy flanked by his parents. “Sharing the vulnerability with the audience and me feeling their energy back has been something I remember for the rest of my life,” he told reporters. Naumov’s parents were among the figure skating players and coaches who died when an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army helicopter outside Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, 2025. The tragic crash claimed 67 lives.
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