‘Today’: Maxim Naumov Reflects on Late Parents’ Legacy Ahead of 2026 Winter Olympics Debut

Maxim Naumov is ready to make his 2026 Winter Olympics debut one year after losing his parents, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, in the January 2025 Washington, D.C., plane collision with an Army Blackhawk helicopter.

Before he hits the ice for the men’s short program on Tuesday, February 10, Maxim sat down with NBC Nightly News‘ Tom Llamas to reflect on his figure skating journey and share how he’s continuing his parents’ legacy.

“I’m gonna go out there and put everything on the line. I want to finish the program and say, ‘There’s nothing I left on the table,’” Maxim shared in a prerecorded interview aired on Tuesday’s episode of Today. “One thing that they always told me was, ‘Everything is practice until the Olympics. This is all to get ready for the Olympics.’”

Maxim’s parents were former Olympic pairs skaters who notably won gold at the 1994 World Figure Skating Championship. The pair got married in 1995 and retired from skating three years later. Evgenia and Vadim went on to start a youth academy at the Skating Club of Boston in Massachusetts and welcomed Maxim in 2001.

Evgenia and Vadim were among the 67 people killed in the Washington, D.C., plane crash last year. The victims included several skaters, coaches, and family members who were flying home from the U.S. Figure Skating’s National Development Camp after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. Since his parents’ deaths, Maxim has taken over their skating youth academy.

“My parents have a lot of students, and so, my immediate reaction was to go on the ice and start working with all of them. And that really helped me,” he told Llamas, adding that he almost considered quitting competitive skating.

“I had those moments where I just froze. I didn’t know what to do. I said, ‘Hey, this is such a crucial and pivotal moment in my life. If at this moment I don’t take on the responsibility, then I’ll look back forever on this moment, at my most vulnerable, at the most intense, and I know that I did not step up.’”

While awaiting his results at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships last month, Maxim kissed a photo of himself as a child with his parents. He ended the competition in third place, securing his spot on Team USA’s Winter Olympics team.

“I wanted them to be in the kiss and cry with me, to literally share that moment with me, because they deserve it. They deserve to be there, right next to me,” Maxim said, adding that the photo will serve as a good luck charm at the Olympics.

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“If I can get an opportunity to share their legacy and what they mean to me and what they’ve done for me, I’m gonna take every opportunity to do so,” he added.

At the end of their conversation, Llamas asked Maxim, “When you did make the Olympics — if I can ask you this question — did you have a conversation with your parents?” He replied, “Of course. The words that just kept spilling out is that ‘we did it.’ Everything we did together was as a team, and I still feel like we did it together.”

The first two groups of the men’s short program will air on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. The remaining three groups’ performances will air on NBC beginning at 1:45 p.m. Highlights from the men’s short program competition will re-air during NBC’s Primetime in Milan starting at 8 p.m. ET.

Today, Weekdays, 7 a.m./6c, NBC

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