Max Naumov took his first step as an Olympian on Tuesday and he did just fine.
Then, as he has done throughout the process, he stopped to give credit to his late parents.
The 24-year-old Simsbury native, who qualified for his first U.S. Olympic team with a third-place finish last month in St. Louis, was the second of the 29 skaters to perform his short program on the Milano Ice Skating Arena ice. He finished his short program performance with a score of 47.77 for technical elements and 37.88 program components score for a total of 85.65. The top 20 skaters advance to Friday’s long skate when the medals are decided.
Naumov’s parents and coaches — Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova — were killed in a plane crash on Jan. 29, 2025. Max has made it a point of showing photos of his parents throughout this journey while crediting them for his success, as he did again on Tuesday.
Following his performance he once again showed off a photo of him with his parents, then kissed it as he waited for his scores. He reacted with a huge smile as his numbers were announced.
Following his performance, in an emotional scene, he was interviewed off the ice by NBC and spoke of his parents and their presence with him.
“All I could do was look up at the sky and say, ‘We just did it,’” he said.
He broke down later as he was shown a live feed from Norwood, Mass., the site of his skating club, the Norwood Campus of the Skating Club of Boston.
As he waved at the screen of young skaters cheering he simply said: “I love each and every one of you guys.”
This story is developing and will be updated.
