Figure skater Maxim Naumov is headed to the Olympics, almost one year after losing both his parents in the 2025 mid-air collision over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Naumov, 24, qualified by finishing third at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis on Sunday, January 11. "I thought of them immediately," Naumov said of his parents, according to U.S. Figure Skating. "I wish they could be here to experience it with me, but I do feel their presence, and they are with me." Naumov was one of 16 skaters to qualify for Team USA on Sunday. He finished just behind champion Ilia Malinin and runner-up Andrew Torgashev. Figure Skater Left Wichita Just Days Before Parents Died in Plane Crash His parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, were aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with a military helicopter over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people on January 29, 2025. The flight was coming from Wichita, Kansas, where the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships had just finished. Former world champion skaters themselves, Naumov's parents were among the 28 casualties tied to the figure skating community. Naumov placed fourth at the 2025 championships and left Wichita shortly after. His parents stayed longer to attend a developmental camp, planning to return home on the American Airlines flight. Maxim Naumov Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images "I came into this competition thinking how grateful I am to even have the ability to compete and the fact that I overcame so, so much," Naumov said. "Looking back, even not being able to lace up my skates and not knowing if I was going to compete, let alone skate, what I did [Saturday] - I don't even have the words, honestly, of just what I had to overcome to be here." As Naumov grieved his loss over the past year, he said he has leaned on the outpouring of support from others to keep him going. Figure Skaters Evgenia Shishkova, Vadim Naumov's Relationship Timeline "Every message, every letter, every call, every text: I see it and it helps me just keep pushing through the difficult days, getting up and going to bed," he said. "Thank you, everyone." Naumov added that after the crash, he considered never skating again, but that he used to talk with his parents about one day making the Olympics, "every day, year after year." "It means so much in our family, and it's what I've been thinking about since I've been 5 years old, before I even knew how to think or what to think," he said. "So, I can't even say in words how much this means to me." Olympian Scott Hamilton Cries Over D.C. Plane Crash: 'Beyond Devastation' Naumov ultimately performed at the Legacy on Ice tribute show in Washington, D.C. that March, honoring the victims of the crash. An estimated 15,000 people attended the event at Capital One Arena, raising $1.2 million for the victims' families and first responders. Asked how Naumov thought his parents would react if they were there to see him make the team, he replied, "They'd say, 'We're proud of you, but [the] job's not finished. We're just getting started.'" Figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics will take place in Milan, Italy from February 6 to 19. The United States earned two Gold Medals and one Bronze Medal at the 2022 games in Beijing, China, led by Nathan Chen's men's singles win.