Figure skater Maxim Naumov is speaking out for the first time about the tragic deaths of his parents, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
Maxim, 23, sat down with Today’s Craig Melvin on the Thursday, March 27, episode of the NBC morning show, revealing that his parents switched their flight before boarding the plane that crashed in Washington, D.C. on January 29.
“My mom let me know that they’re switching flights and [asked] if I could pick them up,” he shared. “My mom always texts me and calls me soon as they land.”
Shishkova, 52, and Vadim, 55, were among the 67 victims killed after a plane flying from Wichita, Kansas, to D.C. crashed into a helicopter and fell into the Potomac River. Several of the passengers included members of the U.S. Figure Skating community who were traveling to D.C. after attending the U.S. Figure Skating National Development Camp.
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Maxim, for his part, departed from Wichita just days before the doomed flight after he competed at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on January 26. His parents celebrated his skating success in their final joint Instagram post, stating they were “proud” of him.
“It was actually the last thing that they said,” Maxim told Melvin, 45, of the emotional post. “It was actually my mom that called me, and she said, ‘Hey, I just want you to know that we love you and we’re proud of you.’ It means everything to me. I mean, my whole life, a part of it was to make them proud.”
When asked about his grieving process, Maxim said “the only way out is through,” adding, “I don’t have the strength or the passion or the drive or the dedication of one person anymore. It’s three people.”
Skating has changed for Maxim in the wake of his parents’ deaths, but in a positive way. “When you’re in such a regiment, such an intense training schedule, essentially, I have a list [of] A, B, C, D, E, F, G, these are the things that I have to get done,” he explained. “It doesn’t feel like that anymore. There’s no list. It’s just free. I can just be free on the ice.”
Maxim paid tribute to his late parents with an emotional performance at the Legacy on Ice U.S. Figure Skating Benefit at Capital One Arena in D.C. on March 2. He began his solo routine by placing two white roses on a table next to the rink and burst into tears while on his knees at the end of the performance.
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“I skated truly from my heart, like, genuinely,” he said of the performance. “I wasn’t thinking about the steps. I wasn’t thinking about the jumps or the spins or anything like that. I just let my body go, and I never felt that before. I just had such an overwhelming emotion of love in that moment.”
Currently an alternate for the U.S. National Figure Skating Team, Maxim told Melvin he’s unsure about whether he will train to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. “I’m listening to my body, to what I feel when I’m on the ice. And it feels really good,” he explained.
Maxim concluded the interview on a heartfelt note, acknowledging that he would “not be the person I am today without” his parents and adding, “Their love and their care was evident in each stage of my life. They were always like superheroes to me.”
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Shishkova and Vadim rose to fame as skating partners before beginning their coaching careers at the International Skating Center in Simsbury, Connecticut. The couple had been coaching pro skating hopefuls, some of whom also died in the plane crash, at The Skating Club of Boston since 2017.
“We are devastated by this loss and are holding the victims’ loved ones closely in our hearts,” U.S. Figure Skating wrote in an Instagram statement on January 31. “In response, we have established the U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund to provide financial assistance to those U.S. Figure Skating families directly impacted by the tragedy.”
