US figure skater whose parents died in plane crash makes Olympic team

Figure skater Maxim Naumov, whose parents were killed in a plane crash in Washington DC last year, has made the US team for next month’s Winter Olympics.

Naumov’s dream to make Team USA was one of the last things he spoke about with his parents before they were killed.

“We did it,” Naumov said when asked what his parents would say if they were watching.

They later moved to the US and coached at the Skating Club of Boston.

On Saturday, Naumov, 24, placed third behind Ilia Malinin and runner-up Andrew Torgashev at the US Figure Skating Championships in St Louis.

He will now be one of 16 figure skaters representing the US at the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.

As Naumov was competing this week, he held a photo of himself as a child with his parents.

Last January, his parents were among those killed after an American Airlines plane from Kansas carrying 64 people onboard collided with a military helicopter, manned by three personnel. There were no survivors.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were on their way back from Wichita, Kansas, which was hosting the 2025 US championships.

Of those on board the flight, 28 were athletes, coaches, or parents connected to US figure skating.