tt_With a broken but unwavering heart, Maxim Naumov completed his first Olympic-style competition and dedicated it to his parents—who perished too soon in the plane crash. He gently kissed a precious family photo, where his parents’ smiles still shone brightly beside their young son. “I feel like you’re here, holding me,” he said, his voice choked with emotion. It wasn’t just a performance—it was a journey of healing, proof that parental love can transcend life and death.

Here was Maxim Naumov, on his knees and smiling wide, feeling like he just snapped out of a trance, feeling all the prayers and support he’s received over the last year, feeling the presence of his parents guiding him through this two-minute and 50-second routine on Olympic ice.

The Norwood, Mass. native lived out everyone’s worst fear last January when his parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shichkova, died on American Eagle Flight 5342 over the Potomac River on their way home from watching him in nationals at Wichita, Kansas.

He lived out his own dream Tuesday night in Milan, skating his heart out in the short program portion of the men’s singles figure skating event at the Olympic Games to the appropriately melancholy soundtrack of Chopin’s “Nocturne No. 20.” Then, in an indelible image, he held up a photo of his parents and kissed it in the kiss-and-cry area.

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Maxim Naumov holds a photo of his parents after his Olympics routine on Feb. 10, 2026.Getty Images

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Maxim Naumov (c.) kisses a photo of his parents after his Olympics routine on Feb. 10, 2026.

“It felt almost like a hand on my back, pushing me forward,” Naumov said. “Just feeling my parents guiding me from one element to another and just keeping me grounded. Almost like a chess piece on a chessboard from one element to another. Unlike any other feeling I’ve ever felt before.”

Before the music starts, Naumov said, he’s usually jittery, shaking his arm to demonstrate. This time, he was calm and still, feeling his parents “through my whole body.”

“All the prayers and the thoughts, I really do feel it. I felt it throughout the entire thing,” he said. “It’s almost like, I closed my eyes and I opened them and I was on my knees. Just looking up and saying man, look at what we just did.”

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Maxim Naumov competes in the short program at the 2026 Olympics on Feb. 10, 2026.Getty Images
Naumov finished with an 85.65 score, good enough to qualify for the free skate on Friday night, well above his season-high in the short program (76.71) but not quite good enough to be in medal contention.

No matter. Naumov was not even a favorite to qualify for the Olympics until a surprise bronze medal at U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January got him here. This is not a story about medals, but a story about a person who spoke about using his grief for good.

“I just hope that my story can empower or inspire somebody to continue to push themselves onward, because that’s all we can do,” Naumov said. “That’s what we have to do. The only way out is through, and everyone has the ability to do that. To remain strong in your mind, have willpower and do things out of love instead of fear.

“I think if you’re able to do that, whatever it is that you’re going through, however big or small, you can have small wins every single day. And you can do things that you never thought you could.”