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Maxim Naumov Honors Parents’ Legacy as He Competes in 2026 Olympics
Maxim Naumov’s parents were absent when he got officially named to the U.S. Olympic team, and they won’t be at the men’s figure skating competition to watch him perform on February 10. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old is able to feel his father and mother beside him with each step that he takes.
“We did it,” Maxim emotionally said when he got the news that he was going to Milan. “We did it together.”
While getting ready for Italy, Naumov remembered the terrible plane crash in Washington, D.C., that killed his parents, pairs 1994 world figure skating champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, on its one-year anniversary on 29 January. The disaster resulted in the deaths of 67 people when American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River. Among the victims were 28 individuals connected with U.S. Figure Skating.
“Some days I still wake up and find myself wondering simply ‘Why?'” Maxim wrote in a tearful Instagram tribute. “How did it happen? What’s the point? Why did they have to be taken away from me so soon?”
Maxim Naumov Draws on Family Legacy to Compete in the Olympics
Through the tragic death of his parents, Maxim Naumov has kept up his commitment to the skating career. “Regardless of all that, I get ready, put on my coat, and go out the door. Every. Single. Day. Because I have work to do,” he said. “I get my goal straight pretty quick when I remember that we set out to achieve the goal when I was five years old. Together. We. As a family.”
After the accident, he was very distressed and confessed to the New York Times that he had the idea of just “laying in my bed or lay on my couch and just rot.” Nevertheless, he saw that quitting was not the right way.
He started by going along with the technique his before -mentioned parents had started for the beginner skaters at the Skating Club of Boston. The kids allowed him to feel close to his parents whom he had just lost.
Given that Maxim was raised by parents who were Olympians for Russia twice, his goal has always been to follow in their footsteps. After he had performed in exhibitions last March, he decided to carry on with the dream that they all had shared.
Maxim Naumov’s New Coach and Support System Fuel His Olympic Journey
He needed a new coach first to be able to continue with his skating career. After the unfortunate death of Maxim’s parents, Vladimir Petrenko, the family friend for a long time, came forward. Petrenko told CT Insider in January that it was a “very emotional and humane” moment and that he felt very strongly about the responsibility. “I had quite a close and personal relationship with Evgenia and Vadim… They were extraordinary people through whose presence, values and love Max has been shaped.”
In a November video by Olympics.com, Maxim spoke about the role of his parents in inspiring him: “Having your parents as your role models right there in the house, at the rink, just everywhere, they inspired me to want this dream. And it would mean absolutely everything to me to be at the Olympics. I’m working as hard as I possibly can, and I’m doing everything in my power to do so. Doing it for them would be even more beautiful.”
Maxim’s circle of persons providing support consists of Vladimir’s wife and coach Elena Petrenko, his longtime roommate and fellow Olympian Spencer Howe, choreographer Benoît Richard, and godparents Tony and Gretta Bogdan who helped him get over the shock of the accident and conducted the management of his parents’ last affairs.
Along with Maxim’s technical skill improvement — he was bringing axels, Lutzes, and triple toe loops to perfection — he also went through an emotional growth phase, traveling the world and getting ready for the US Olympic team final pick.
Maxim Naumov Looks Back on Personal Development and Gets Ready for U.S. Championships
Maxim Naumov has shared extensively his path of learning who he really is. In fact, on Instagram in December following his fourth-place finish at the Tallinn Trophy in Estonia, he wrote, “I feel like every month I find out a new thing about myself. I try to be thankful every day even when I doubt myself.”
Maxim does not always focus on skating; he also values having rest. He depicted his perfect day off in a Team USA video released in January as one with a sauna session, contrast therapy, a massage, and playing video games with friends. At the moment, his favorite music artists are Eminem, Westside Gunn, and Benny, the series he watches is The Boys, and he plays table tennis inspired by Marty Supreme. Out of curiosity about what his best cooking was at home, he answered jokingly “Cereal.”
In fact, everything that he has been doing has been in preparation for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at St. Louis’ Enterprise Center, where one of his goals was to make it to Team USA.
Maxim Naumov’s Olympic Dream is a Tribute to the Memory of His Parents
Maxim Naumov termed making the Olympic team was “the ultimate goal” during his talk with The Athletic. But after finishing fourth in the short program on January 9, skating to Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne No. 20, his Olympic fate was still up in the air.
“My parents and I, one of our last conversations was exactly about that,” Maxim shared. “To be able to do that would mean the absolute world. That’s exactly what we’re fighting for… That’s what I think about first thing in the morning and when I close my eyes.”
Maxim was holding a picture of him as a 2-year-old with his parents, Evgenia and Vadim, at the International Skating Center of Connecticut – the very place where he had his first experience on the ice – all the time he was waiting to know his score.
“I am only thinking of them,” he added. “Their smile. Their laugh. What they would say to me. Their words. It all plays continuously in my head, especially during moments like this. I love them.”
Maxim Naumov Remembers Parents Support and Encouragement During Olympic Journey
Maxim Naumov was full of emotion as he described the dynamic between his father, Vadim, and himself during their times when he was taking on the ice. “After watching my routine, my dad would probably have said, ‘You need to be a bit more assured with your [Salchow],’ I think,” Maxim reflected.
He went on to say that he believed that Vadim would have been proud of him and that he would have come up with phrases such as “Don’t stop. Keep going. Keep going to Milan. And don’t give up. That is exactly what I am going to do.”
Even if his mom was not at the rink when he was skating live after he turned 13 years old because she would get too nervous, Maxim pictured her giving him support on the phone after the event: “‘It’s okay. You did great. We already forgot about it. Now we are thinking about the free [skate],’”
Maxim Naumov’s Road to the Olympics Built on Perseverance and Dad’s Footsteps
Thinking of what his dad Vadim said to him at last year’s nationals, Maxim Naumov remembered his dad going on about sticking to things and being tough through it all in fact, it is this very message that made a big impact on him. “Whether it was training, competing, off ice, on ice, all of that. And I took that all the way here today.”
Coming out fourth for three years in a row, Maxim sealed the third spot after his free program to the song In This Shirt by The Irrepressibles. A spot on the 2026 U.S. Olympic team with the newly crowned champion Ilia Malinin, a.k.a. the “Quad God,” and silver medalist Andrew Torgashev became his reward. His good buddy Spencer Howe is going to Milan as well in pairs skating with his partner Emily Chan.
Maxim senses the support of his parents in all his endeavors. “I bet they are up there,” he said right after securing his Olympic spot, “grinning and proud.”
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