Athletes lose parents and somehow find the strength to compete.

This one just proved what that strength looks like.

And this figure skater kissed their parents photo after qualifying for the Olympics one year after they died in a plane crash.

DC Plane Crash Killed 67 People Including Figure Skating Parents

Naumov's parents weren't just spectators in the stands.

Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were world champion figure skaters who competed for Russia in two Olympic Games.

They won the World Championships in pairs in 1994.

The couple were returning from a figure skating development camp in Nashville on January 29, 2025 when their American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C.

All 67 people on both aircraft died.

Twenty-eight victims were connected to the figure skating community.

Maxim had competed at the same event but flew home earlier on a separate flight.

One of his final conversations with his parents focused on what it would take to make the 2026 Olympic team.

Figure Skater Honors Parents After Making US Olympic Team

The 24-year-old from Hartford, Connecticut finished third at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis last weekend.

After his performance, Naumov held up a childhood photo showing him on skates between his parents.

He kissed it while waiting for his score.

"We did it," Naumov said after learning he made the Olympic team.

"We absolutely did it."

The selection puts him alongside Ilia Malinin and Andrew Torgashev on the U.S. men's figure skating team heading to Milan next month.

His parents coached at the Skating Club of Boston where Naumov now serves as director of Tomorrow's Champions, the youth skating program they founded.

"I thought of them immediately," Naumov said.

"I wish they could be here to experience it with me, but I do feel their presence, and they are with me."

Sports psychologists know grief doesn't stop athletes from competing

This mirrors what happened to Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Her mother died from a heart attack just hours after landing in Vancouver to watch her daughter skate.

Rochette competed anyway and won bronze.

Jessica Bartley, Director of Mental Health Services for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, explained grief's impact on performance.

"We know that grief impacts sleep, appetite, concentration, and energy levels – all critical factors in athletic performance," Bartley said.

But grief doesn't always destroy performance.

Some athletes experience what researchers call "performance swings" where exceptional and poor performances alternate dramatically.

For others, training and competing provides escape from grief.

Professional athletes are wired differently than most people when facing loss.

Sports psychologist Matt Brown noted that new challenges can "provide a motivating force to break out of the low energy and inactivity."

Brett Favre threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns the day after his father died in 2003.

Martin St. Louis scored on Mother's Day just days after his mother's sudden death.

These aren't anomalies.

They're examples of how elite athletes channel grief into performance.

2026 Milan Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Announced

The figure skater had no roadmap for what came next.

He was an only child who lost both parents and his lifelong coaches in one moment.

Naumov built a new coaching team from scratch.

He doubled down on training.

He took over running his parents' skating school for young athletes.

"It's all about being resilient," Naumov said before the championships.

"That's the feeling and mentality I've clung to this entire season."

"I find in times of really difficult emotional stress, if you can just push yourself a little bit more, and almost think, 'What if? What if I can do it? What if, despite everything that happened to me, I can go out and do it?'" he continued.

"And that is where you find strength, and that's where you grow as a person."

In March 2025, Naumov performed at a charity skating event honoring the crash victims.

He dropped to his knees and wept on the ice after finishing.

During a "Today" show interview that month, he described his parents as "beautiful people" who were "so incredibly kind."

"The only way out is through," Naumov said.

"There's no other way. There are no options but to keep going."

"I don't have the strength or the passion or the drive, or the dedication of one person anymore. It's three people."

The 2026 Winter Olympics begin February 6 in Milan.

Naumov will compete in men's figure skating representing the United States.

His parents competed for Russia in 1992 and 1994.

Now their son carries the family's Olympic tradition forward.

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Sources:

• Associated Press, "US figure skater Maxim Naumov makes Olympic team after parents' tragic death in plane crash," WSFA, January 12, 2026.
• Los Angeles Times, "Maxim Naumov Olympic qualification," January 2026.
• The New York Post, "Maxim Naumov named to U.S. Winter Olympic team," January 2026.
• Jessica Bartley, "The impact of grief on elite athletic performance," The 1v1 Project, April 9, 2025.
• Matt Brown, PhD, "Sports Psychology and grief performance," cited in analysis of athletic grief responses.
• CNN, "Maxim Naumov, US figure skater who triumphed over tragedy, makes Olympic team," January 12, 2026.
• NBC Connecticut, "Simsbury's Maxim Naumov named to U.S. Olympic team," January 12, 2026.