A Year After The Potomac River Mid-Air Crash, Maxim Naumov Hopes To Honor His Late Parents At The Winter Olympics

Maxim Naumov will represent Team USA in the Figure Skating Men’s Singles event alongside Ilia Malinin and Andrew Torgashev.

A Year After The Potomac River Mid-Air Crash, Maxim Naumov Hopes To Honor His Late Parents At The Winter Olympics

L: Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, R: Maxim Naumov (Images via People/Getty Images)

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With just a few days before the cauldron is lit in Milan, the world’s eyes have landed on the 25th Winter Olympics and its headlining storylines. Maxim Naumov, son of the late pair skating couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, making his Olympic debut just a year after his parents’ passing away, is one of the biggest storylines.

The 1994 Chiba World Championships pair skating gold medalist couple were among the 67 casualties of the Potomac River mid-air collision just a year ago. The couple-turned coaches were returning from a development camp in conjunction with the US Figure Skating National Championships in Wichita, Kansas, on January 29, 2025 when the flight they were traveling on collided with a United States Army helicopter over the Potomac River during their final approach to Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

The couple’s son, Maxim Naumov, has battled grief and shocked the figure skating world with his rise to the top. The 24-year-old, who competes for the US in men’s singles, was named in Team USA’s figure skating team following his performance at the National Championships in St. Louis earlier this year. With a combined score of 249.16, Naumov finished third behind Ilia Malinin and Andrew Torgashev.

As Naumov prepares for his maiden Olympics, he told PEOPLE that his parents were his role models. He admitted that he feels the presence of the two everywhere. After his free skate in St. Louis, he was pictured clutching a picture of them while he awaited his scores.

When he’s taking the ice in a couple of days, Naumov has a bigger goal in his eyes: honor his parents’ legacy.

The reason why it’s so important to me is because I want to honor their legacy. They were world-class athletes that were the best of the best during their time. I mean, two-time Olympians, you know, it’s the 1% of the 1%, and they deserved all the praise.

Maxim Naumov said

US eyes more than one medal in Men’s Singles with Naumov, Malinin, and Torgashev

After Nathan Chen’s win in Beijing four years ago, the US Figure Skating is once again the top favorite to win the men’s singles event. Team USA will be represented by the podium finishers at the National Championships in St. Louis: Ilia Malinin, Andrew Torgashev, and Maxim Naumov.

Ilia Malinin
Ilia Malinin during his short program at the US National Figure Skating Championships 2025 in St. Louis (Image via Getty Images)

Malinin, 21, has quickly become a phenomenon following his wins in the junior category and eventual bronze at the National Championships ahead of Beijing 2022. Jason Brown, who finished fourth was controversially named in the team for Olympics. A year later, he landed the very first quadruple axel in history. He has since heated things up, setting a new record with seven quadruple jumps in one program last year. Given that he has been undefeated since November 2023, this is his season to lose.

Ilia Quad God Malinin, as he has since come to be known, even has plans for a quintuple jump, that is, five full rotations in the air before landing at the Olympics. Again, something no one has done before. With Malinin being an overwhelming podium-finisher, the USA would look to land one more finish. The last time they had two or more finishes in men’s singles was 1956 Cortina D’Ampezzo, when Hayes Alan-Jenkins, Ronnie Robertson, and David Jenkins swept the podium for Team USA.

It won’t be easy for Torgashev and Naumov to place in Milan. Yuma Kagiyama, who finished second behind Chen in Beijing, will be back in action. He is fresh off a second-place finish in the 2025-26 Grand Prix Final, where he finished second behind Malinin. In last year’s World Championships, the 22-year-old won a bronze.

Mikhail Shaidorov from Kazakhstan bagged silver behind Malinin at the Worlds. Shaidorov, who will also be making his Olympic debut, even entered the top ten highest combined scores in the event with his second-place finish. Torgashev, unfortunately, fell to 22nd after an error-riddled free skate dropped his chances severely. It might take both of their best performances if Team USA needs more than one medal in the category.

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