As the chaos of the Olympic Village died down on Friday night in Milan, U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov lay in his bed and finally absorbed the magnitude of what had happened.

“Before I fell asleep, I kept thinking about those days that were so tough, and how I was this close to giving up, and how I felt those obstacles and roadblocks but nevertheless faced them and overcame them,” Naumov said. 

Every Olympic hopeful faces an array of challenges as they push through setbacks and mental or physical hardship. But the obstacles Naumov thought about that evening reached beyond sport to the grief of sudden personal loss.

Just a year ago, his parents, two-time Olympians Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who had coached him since he was a toddler, were on board American Airlines Flight 5342 returning from working at a youth training camp when it crashed with a helicopter in Washington, DC. Sixty-seven people died that day — 28 of them members of the figure skating community returning from the camp. 

In the days and weeks after the accident, Naumov wasn’t sure he could skate again. It had been a dream of the family that he follow in their footsteps to an Olympic Games, but now that seemed beyond what he could manage. 

Eventually he returned to the ice, taking over his parents’ skating school — the Tomorrow's Champions program at The Skating Club of Boston — which he describes as their "legacy." Slowly, he began to skate for himself, and over the summer he went to Italy to train at a camp run by popular choreographer Benoit Richaud.

“The trip to Italy was such a pivotal moment in the decision to continue,” Naumov said. Surrounded by other champions and top-tier athletes, Naumov’s competitive fire began to burn again. 

He slowly built a new team to coach him for the lead-up to the Milan Cortina Olympics, selecting Richaud to build new programs, and family friend, 1986 junior world champion Vladimir Petrenko, as a head coach. 

At first, Naumov had a measured pre-Olympic season, taking 9th place at the Lombardia Trophy, 9th at the Grand Prix France and 1st at the 2025 Ice Challenge. Then, in January, at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, he broke a three-year streak of placing 4th at the national level, finally earning bronze. His performance there also earned him a place on the U.S. Olympic team, fulfilling the dream he had shared with his parents his whole life.

“From the first time that I got to [the Olympics], walking with all our bags through the village, it was a dream come true,” Naumov said. “You think about this moment your entire life, I think it didn’t really feel real at first for me.”

That feeling of living in the surreal has stayed with Naumov through his two Olympic performances. The first — the short program — was one of the best performances of his career, landing him in 14th place and qualifying him easily for the free skate. In that second segment he was 22nd in a field of strong performances, and he finished his Olympic debut in 20th place.

Naumov said the experience of competing nearly cleanly in two beautiful and technically sound performances on the biggest stage in sport was hard to put into words.

“I keep coming back to how difficult this year was, and how much I had to go through to be there and hitting that last pose,” Naumov said. “I wasn’t thinking about how hard the [required] elements were, or some mistakes I made. The journey meant the most to me, and I felt it through both my performances.”

He said he’d never felt as deeply connected to the music as he did on Olympic ice. “Sinking my feet into the ice, connecting my brain with my body, just becoming the music — you hear people talk about this — it’s a feeling of freedom, just absolute freedom,” he said.

After the season, Naumov says he will be taking a much-needed break to rest and reset, something he hasn’t really done since losing his parents. He wants to continue working with young athletes, and is passionate about helping the next generation. 

In January, he started a GoFundMe titled “Building Stronger Minds for Young Athletes,” to support the launch of a nonprofit organization focused on mental health. 

“I’ve learned that mental resilience isn’t something athletes are born with — it’s something they build. And too many young athletes are trying to build it alone,” he said on the crowdfunding site, explaining that the goal of the initiative will be to develop programming and partnerships to bring tools directly to athlete communities.

He also said he is interested in continuing to compete, noting that at 24, he is still young, and his body still feels strong and able to keep pushing. 

For now, he’s enjoying the remaining days of the Games in Milan, cheering on friends and teammates, and waiting for the fact he has lived his dream — in tribute of his parents — to sink in.

“Out on Olympic ice, I just remember closing my eyes and just letting my body take over,” Naumov said. “And to have the opportunity and the privilege to be on the ice, and to share that with everybody — it was just a wonderful thing.”