Skater Maxim Naumov, 23, Who Lost Both Parents in D.C. Plane Crash, Now with Family Friends ‘24 Hours’ a Day (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Maxim Naumov.Photo:Matthew Stockman/Getty

Matthew Stockman/Getty

Maxim Naumov is facing the incomprehensible after tragically losing both his parents - 1994 World Figure Skating pairs champions Evgenia “Zhenya” Shishkova and Vadim Naumov - in the Washington D.C. plane crash.

“I know a couple who is with him right now,” Ekaterina “Katia” Gordeeva, a Russian teammate of Zhenya and Vadium Naumov at the 1994 Olympics and friend of the couple, tells PEOPLE. She says the woman looking after Maxim was “a very dear friend” to his late parents.

“They weren’t even in Washington yet, but … that morning [of the plane crash], we all connected right away, all the people from Simsbury,” says Katia, referring to the town in Connecticut where, Zhenya, Vadim lived in the late ’90s and early ’00s.

Katia says that the family friend supporting Maxim and his parents used to be “together all the time. So she is like a godmother to him, and she is with him right now there and her husband.”

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, pictured.Facebook

Facebook

According to Katia, the couple has known Maxim since he was born and were “very supportive to Vadim and Zhenya all the time” with their son. “I know that Maxim has someone with him 24 hours,” she tells PEOPLE.

Zhenya and Vadim competed alongside Katia and her late husband Sergei Grinkov at the 1994 Olympics, where they finished in fourth place. They wed in 1995 and retired in 1998 to skate professionally while moving to Simsbury, where they would eventually welcome their son Maxim.

According to Katia, a lot of the Russian skating community she grew up with also settled in Simsbury, building a community there. This is where she says she grew close with Zhenya and Vadim.

“We had a really nice one New Year together, we rented like a little house, Airbnb, and we had an amazing time together, just like playing snowballs and like being like a kid. It was very nice and friendly people,” she tells PEOPLE.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, pictured in 1997.Todd Warshaw /Allsport

Todd Warshaw /Allsport

Katia also shares that she and Zhenya bonded over their pregnancies with her daughter Elizaveta and Maxim as they were pregnant at the same time.

“I know that my daughter reached out to him because they are closer to her in age,” she says. Regarding the plane crash that claimed Zhenya and her husband’s life, she continued, “My daughter was so devastated yesterday. She was like, ‘I have to go. I have to go see him right now.’ ”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Maxim Naumov, pictured.Matthew Stockman/Getty

The Skating Club of Boston confirmedseveral other members of the U.S. figure skating community were killed in the crash, including Zhenya and Vadim.

source: people.com