Maxim Naumov looks past free skate mistakes, basks in his Olympic moment: 'I'm proud'

Lori Riley, Hartford Courant on Feb 13, 2026

Published in Olympics

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Maxim Naumov realized the dream that he and his parents had simply by stepping onto the ice at the Olympics skating rink this week in Italy.

The results were secondary. Still, Naumov, 24, was in 14th place after a solid performance Tuesday, when he posted a score of 85.65 in the short program and qualified for the long program.

Friday was the free skate at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Ilia Malinen, who helped the U.S. team win the gold in the team competition, would skate last after his top score in the free skate Tuesday, and all eyes were naturally on the “Quad God” and waiting to see what he would do and if he would include a quad axel in his program.

But everybody in the arena, including Naumov’s best friends from Connecticut and godmother Gretta Bogdan, and watching at home had to be in some way pulling for Naumov, whose parents perished in the plane crash in Washington, D.C. last January.

On Friday, Naumov fell twice during the program and received a score of 137.71, out of medal contention, but it didn’t matter to the crowd, who cheered every time he completed a jump successfully.

“From the start to the finish, I was trying to stay calm. There were obviously some mistakes but I just fought for every single thing,” he told NBC after the skate. “Even though the landings weren’t there, I fought with everything I have. I’m proud of myself for that.”

Tuesday, he said he felt his parents’ presence during his skate. Friday, as he stepped onto the ice, the scoreboard in the arena read “Mom and Dad, this is for you.” As he has done throughout the national championships and the Olympics, he held a photo of himself and his parents in the kiss-and-cry area after his performance.

Naumov’s parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishova, were among the 67 people lost in the plane crash in Washington, D.C., just over a year ago, some of whom were returning from the national figure skating championships in Wichita, Kan. Naumov is an only child, and his parents were his coaches.

Naumov was born in Hartford, Conn., and grew up in Simsbury, Conn., but now lives in Norwood, Mass., where he moved with his parents in 2017 to train at the Skating Club of Boston. His parents, who were Olympic pairs skaters, had been coaches at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury.

After skating sporadically following the crash, his Olympic plans were uncertain until last July when he asked his parents’ lifelong friends, Vladimir and Elena Petrenko of Simsbury, to coach him toward an Olympic berth. In January, it was announced — after finishing third at the national championships — that he made the Olympic figure skating team, one of the last things he said he and his parents had talked about before the crash.

“It’s difficult to put into words, really,” he told NBC. “What we’ve dreamed of since the very beginning — I was able to make that reality. I didn’t just do it for myself, I did it for them as well. I couldn’t be more happy and proud of the courage and strength that I had that I was able to get to this moment.”