Following his late father's plan, Maxim Naumov became an Olympian

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Following his late father's plan, Maxim Naumov became an Olympian

ST. LOUIS, Missouri - A year ago, barely hours after Maxim Naumov had finished a frustrating fourth at the U.S. Championships for a third straight time, his father, Vadim, laid out a plan for his son to avoid that frustration again.

Maxim and his mother, Evgenia Shishkova, listened in a Wichita, Kansas hotel room as Vadim outlined in a 45-minute conversation what, how and when they were going to do everything in the ensuing season to give their only child his best shot at both a podium finish and one of the three men’s singles spots on the 2026 U.S. Olympic team.

"He said, 'We have to be consistent where we haven’t been before, and we have to be strong and resilient,’’’ Maxim said. "That’s exactly what I’ve been carrying through this entire season.”

It was one of the last conservations he would have with his parents, the two-time pairs skating Olympians for Russia who were also his coaches.

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Maxim Naumov channels loss for powerful skate at nationals in Olympic bid

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Maxim Naumov channels loss for powerful skate at nationals in Olympic bid

ST. LOUIS, Missouri – Maxim Naumov finished his short program and sat on a white sofa in the area where skaters wait to hear their scores.

With the cameras on him, Naumov held up a photograph of a little boy in white skates standing between two adults on an ice rink in Connecticut. Each adult was holding one of the little boy’s hands to prevent him from falling, the way parents do when their child needs support.

He kissed the photograph - once, twice, three times.

The little boy in the picture was Naumov, who was being introduced to the ice at about age 3.

The adults were his mother, Evgenia Shishkova, and his father, Vadim Naumov, the former pairs world champions and two-time Olympians who had been his coaches until last January 29.

That was the day Max's parents were among the 67 people who died when a U.S. Army helicopter hit their American Airlines jet, which crashed into the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.

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Ilia Malinin looks invincible to his top rival at figure skating worlds

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Ilia Malinin looks invincible to his top rival at figure skating worlds

BOSTON - Yuma Kagiyama was smiling when he said it, as if he were trying to lighten the meaning of his words and the implication they carried about the weight of the challenge for any figure skater trying to compete with Ilia Malinin.

After Thursday’s short program at the World Championships, when he finished a close second to reigning world champion Malinin, Kagiyama was asked what impresses him most about the man known as Quadg0d.

“He does all those difficult jumps, and he makes them look effortless,” Japan’s Kagiyama said through a translator. “Maybe he is putting (out) effort, but to us, it looks effortless and really easy.

“And it’s not just his jumps. I feel like his skating and his artistry, his expression is getting better year by year, so I’m starting to think he’s invincible.”

Invincible.

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Ilia Malinin draws closer to his definition of perfection with third U.S. figure skating title

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Ilia Malinin draws closer to his definition of perfection with third U.S. figure skating title

WICHITA, Kansas – Ilia Malinin doesn’t back down.

When all of his jumping passes at last month’s Grand Prix Final were judged to contain under-rotation, he still had a sweatshirt made that reproduced the scoresheet, a memento of his having tried a free skate program with unprecedented difficulty.

And it was a program he had never previously tried in practice.

Hubris?

Nah. Just the quadg0d being himself.

“I really like to push my physical limits and just challenge myself,” he said.

When he could have easily won a third straight U.S. title Sunday with a safely watered-down program, Malinin instead rolled out the same one he used in the Grand Prix Final, packed with the same unprecedented jumping difficulty.

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Ilia Malinin dominant again in nationals short program

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Ilia Malinin dominant again in nationals short program

WICHITA, Kansas -- Figure skaters often say they are competing only against themselves.

That certainly has become the case for Ilia Malinin at the Prevagen U.S. Championships.

The reigning world champion is simply in a league by himself on the national level.

He showed that again in Saturday’s short program, winning by 19.14 points, with Andrew Torgashev second and Jimmy Ma third, 3.03 points behind Torgashev.  It is a record margin for the men’s short program winner at nationals.

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