Finally, Maxim Naumov did it…his dream became reality. On 14 February, during the men’s figure skating free skate…his last program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, he took to the ice with everything on the line. Before he even began, the arena lights shone bright, and the crowd’s energy was electric. On the jumbotron appeared a  message for his parents, who passed away last year: “Mom and dad, this one’s for you.” That set a heavy but inspiring tone.

As he skated, there were wobbles. He fell twice on his quad Salchows, and not every landing was perfect. Yet he pushed through with determination, finishing with strength. The crowd erupted in applause, showering the ice with stuffed animals. When his final score appeared: 223.36 points, he had placed seventh overall in the men’s final. It wasn’t perfect, but it was meaningful. For Naumov, giving everything mattered more than any medal.

Speaking about what this achievement meant with his parents in mind, he said: “ Even though the landings weren’t there, I know that I fought eveyrthing i had. I mean, it’s difficult to put into words, really.”

He added, “But we’ve dreamed of you know, since the very beginning, I was able to make that a reality, and I didn’t do it just for myself. I did it for them as well. I can be more happy and proud of the courage and strength that I was able to have to get to this moment, and I dedicated all to them.”

Well, Naumov’s journey was emotional from the start of the OLympics! His first event, the men’s short program on 10 February, earned him 85.65 points, one of his best scores of the season, enough to advance him to the free skate. But simply being an Olympian had been a dream he shared with his parents.

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“I felt like they were guiding me today, with every glide and jump,” he said. “I could feel their support, almost like they were right there with me on the ice.”  Over the past year, Naumov has faced unimaginable grief. Yet on the ice in Milan, he turned heartbreak into courage.

Maxim Naumov turned tragedy into Olympic purpose

Maxim Naumov’s parents, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were both world-class figure skaters from Russia. They won the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships in pairs and competed in two Olympics before moving to the U.S., where they coached elite skaters and helped develop young talent.

For Maxim, skating was never just a sport…it was family. From a young age, his parents guided him on the ice, sharing their knowledge, their passion, and their dreams. Then, tragedy struck. On 29 January 2025, Evgenia and Vadim died in a midair collision near Washington, D.C., when American Eagle Flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing 67 people, including his parents.

But even after such heartbreak, the Olympic dream they had talked about together stayed alive. Maxim has said that skating at the Olympics was a dream they had shared since he was a child, and the last real conversation he had with them was about what it would take to make the Olympic team. Even throughout the Olympics, he carried a childhood photo of himself with his parents in the “kiss-and-cry” area.

“It’s not necessarily thinking about them specifically… but their presence… with every glide and step that I made on the ice, I couldn’t help but feel their support.”

After his short program, he said: “I didn’t know if I was going to cry, smile, or laugh, and all I could do was look up at them.”

Even after his parents passed away, he said that the first weeks were very hard, saying “little things like getting out of bed seemed impossible” and that at the time he “just wanted to rot, basically,” before slowly finding a way forward.

But slowly, he found purpose. Lacing up his skates and pursuing the Olympic goal he had shared with his parents became his way to honor them. Even before the Olympics, he held up their photo at a national event.