Maxim Naumov began figure skating because of his parents. Almost exactly one year after losing both of them in a plane crash, he will make his Olympic debut for Team USA. Naumov, 24, was with his parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas in January 2025, but they stayed behind after his fourth-place finish to attend a developmental clinic. Vadim and Evgenia flew home on American Eagle Flight 5342, which was involved in a mid-air collision with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.