Last May, before Maxim Naumov came back to his roots to Simsbury to skate in a benefit show, he hadn’t been on the ice all that much since January 2025 when he competed in the national championships and finished fourth.
Naumov’s parents, skating coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, were among the 67 people, including more than two dozen skaters, coaches and parents returning from the national championships in Wichita, who were killed in a plane crash in Washington D.C. on Jan. 29, 2025.
One of their last conversations with Maxim was about the Olympics, although he wasn’t certain after the tragedy that he wanted to or even could pursue that goal.
But Sunday, Naumov, 24, who grew up in Simsbury and now lives and trains in the Boston area, was one of three men’s figure skaters named to the U.S. Olympic team after he finished third at the national championships Saturday night in St. Louis.
The Olympics will take place in Italy Feb. 6-22.
Naumov immediately thought of his parents, who were two-time Russian Olympians and world champions, when the announcement was made.
“(I thought about) what we talked about and how much we discussed this through my entire life, and how much it means to us, and how much the Olympics is part of our family,” Naumov said in a statement. “I thought of them immediately. I wish they could be here to experience it with me, but I do feel their presence and they are with me.”
Naumov’s parents skated and coached at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury from the time they came to the U.S. in 1998 through 2017, when they moved to Massachusetts to coach at the Skating Club of Boston.
After the plane crash, about 150 people attended a tribute to the coaches at the Simsbury rink.
Daniel Petrenko, the director of figure skating at the International Skating Center of Connecticut, was in St. Louis with his parents, Vladimir and Elena Petrenko, who were close friends with Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova. Vladimir, who coaches at the Simsbury rink, has been coaching Naumov since July and Elena has helped out with coaching as well.
Daniel and Max have been friends since the two were young and training at the Simsbury skating center.
“Everybody is super excited and happy for him,” Daniel said Sunday. “I always think back to when we were kids – being in skating families, respectively – you always have these aspirations of making it to the Olympics. Over the years, I’ve stopped (competing) and other friends have stopped but (Max) has kept going.
“To be able to hear that someone so close to you is able to live out that dream that we all had growing up as figure skaters, it makes me proud and happy to one, see a friend achieve a goal he’s always wanted to, but also to be there as well and support him how we can.”
Naumov skated in Washington in an emotional tribute to the skaters and coaches who died in the plane crash but didn’t make it onto the ice that much after the accident.
“I had a lot of things to focus on, a lot of things to deal with outside skating,” he told The Courant last May. “I had a bucket of responsibilities dumped on me and decided to take as much on as possible. It was very intimidating to someone who was just trying to get through my own responsibilities.
“Slowly, once things started kind of getting a little in place, I was able to hop on the ice one or two times. It was kind of not too far out from the (Washington) show. Maybe three or four sessions. It was a little wonky when I first got out there, not to mention the emotional stuff going on. It kind of came back to me the way I expected and hoped for.”
Naumov said skating was therapeutic for him.
“There’s a lot of things you want to get off your chest emotionally and on the ice, the ability to express yourself, get all your emotions out that way – you can draw a tangent to something like working out – getting all that emotion, all those thoughts and feelings you have, put it into body movement,” he said in May.
“He understood he was so close to that dream,” Daniel Petrenko said Sunday. “He had to try it or else he’d be kicking himself later in life. It was great to hear he was going to continue toward that goal.”
Daniel Petrenko said his father and mother, both of whom live in Simsbury, have spent a lot of time since then traveling to the Boston area both coaching Maxim and then helping him coach figure skaters that his parents had coached. Daniel has also taken over some of the coaching his father did.
“They’ve been doing that since July,” Daniel said. “It’s been a massive team effort. My brother and I, the three of us grew up together – I would say our roles were to be there for Max as an outlet, a distraction almost, away from the ice, so he could decompress, laugh, play some video games. Everyone had a role and he definitely understands that.”
Daniel Petrenko said his father, who doesn’t get emotional usually, got emotional Thursday night after Naumov skated for the first time.
“You could tell he was holding back tears,” Daniel said. “I’ve only seen him be emotional a few times in life. But I know it was important for him to help Max as well. It’s more than a coaching role, more like a father figure in a way. He’s seen Max grow up, since he was born.”