By DAVE SKRETTA
MILAN (AP) — The last conversation that Maxim Naumov had with his parents was about following in their footsteps to the Olympics.
Now the American figure skater has done it.
The 24-year-old Naumov finished his Winter Games debut with an emotional free skate Friday night, just over a year after Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among 67 people killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 crashed into a military helicopter on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport and fell into the dark depths of the Potomac River.
It wasn’t a perfect program. Far from it. Naumov fell twice on quad salchows and was uneven throughout.
But the point total wasn’t the point.
When it came to an end, a crowd packed inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena to see American teammate Ilia Malinin go for gold gave him a standing ovation. Among them was actor Jeff Goldblum, who took in the performance with his wife, Emilie.
“To be honest, I just feel proud,” Naumov said afterward. “I feel proud of the journey that it took to get to this point. That is what I look toward right now. What it took to get here has been indescribable, inwards, getting up every day when I didn’t want to and pushing through the difficult times and the uncertainty of it all. I’m able to have some perspective on that. And I’ve had a lot of perspective in lots of areas in my life this year and skating is no different.
“So yes,” Naumov said, “there were some mistakes today, but man, I’m just happy and proud to be standing here today and getting through all the difficulty of this year and still standing on my feet and continuing to push onward.”
His students from Tomorrow’s Champions, the youth academy based at the Skating Club of Boston that was founded by his parents and Naumov now runs, certainly were proud. They had a watch party happening back in the U.S. while a small group sitting above the kiss-and-cry area waved a homemade sign with red and blue lettering that red, “Let’s Go Coach Max!”
“Hey, what’s up guys!?” Naumov said upon seeing them, smiling and waving.
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Maxim Naumov of the United States competes during the men’s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
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Maxim Naumov of the United States competes during the men’s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
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Naumov set his free skate to the song “In This Shirt” by The Irrepressibles, a mournful ballad that delves into the issues of heartbreak and loss that the skater knows so well: “I am lost in a rainbow,” the lyrics say, “now our rainbow is gone.”
Naumov had finished fourth at the national championships in Wichita, Kansas, last January before heading home to the Boston area, while his parents — world pairs champions-turned-coaches — stayed behind to participate in a youth development camp.
Their plane was carrying more than two dozen members of the tight-knit figure skating community when it crashed.
Naumov recalled the first hours and days following the crash during an interview with The Associated Press. He remembers feeling like “I just wanted to rot, basically.”
Things such as getting out of bed, answering the door and checking the mail seemed insurmountable chores, and there were moments when he wondered whether he wanted to keep skating at all.
He still finds looking at photographs difficult, including the ones he pulled from a family album tucked above the refrigerator that he brought to the kiss-and-cry area. The idea of looking at videos of his parents still reduces him to tears.
But in the end, Naumov explained, he found purpose in putting on his skates again. He wanted to fulfill a dream that he shared with his parents by making it to the Olympics; they were fifth at the 1992 Albertville Games and fourth at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
He also wanted to turn an unimaginable tragedy into a story of perseverance and ultimately triumph.
“It’s something that is allowing me to keep pushing forward. Keep moving,” Naumov said. “You know, continue to go and do things that are difficult no matter what obstacles get thrown at you. Skating is a tool for that. I think we can all do that.
“Whatever life throws at you, if you can be resilient and push just a little bit more than you think, you can do so much more.”
Associated Press writer Colleen Barry contributed.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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