Maxim Naumov Shares Mom’s Final Words Before American Airlines Crash, Says His Parents Switched Planes to Be on Fatal Flight

• Skater Maxim Naumov spoke about the death of his parents, figure skating champions Evgenia “Zhenya” Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, on the March 27 episode of theToday show
• He revealed that his parents contacted him to let them know they had changed their flight to the fated American Airlines plane that crashed into a Black Hawk helicopter on Jan. 29
• Maxim also shared his mother’s final words to him in her heartbreaking last phone call

Maxim Naumov is sharing heartbreaking details surrounding the tragic death of his parents — Russian World Figure Skating champions Evgenia “Zhenya” Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

The athletes died in the Jan. 29 crash between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C. outside of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Maxim, 23, opened up about the experience of losing both of his parents during an interview with Craig Melvin on the Today show on Thursday, March 27.

“My mom let me know that they were switching flights and if I could pick them up. My mom always texts me and calls me as soon as they land,” Maxim said when asked how he first learned they had died.

The figure skater also shared that his parents’ final words to him were words of love and support.

“It was actually the last thing that they said. It was actually my mom that called me,” Maxim said. “She was like, ‘Hey, I just want you to know that we love you and we’re proud of you.’ It means everything to me. My whole life, a part of it, was to make them proud.”

Calling his parents “beautiful people” who were “so incredibly kind,” Maxim now strives to continue their legacy through his work on the ice, which he said has changed since their deaths.

“When you’re in such a regimented, such an intense training schedule, essentially I have a list A, B, C, D, E, F, G, these are the things I have to get done. It doesn’t feel like that anymore,” he explained. “There’s no list. It’s just free. I can just be free on the ice.”

Maxim brought this new attitude to his performance at the Legacy on Ice event earlier this month, honoring his parents by skating to their favorite Russian love song.

“I skated truly from my heart, genuinely. I wasn’t thinking about the steps,” Maxim said of the emotional tribute on Today. “I wasn’t thinking about the jumps or the spins or anything like that. I just let my body go. And I’ve never felt that before. I just had such an overwhelming emotion of love in that moment.”

As for how he perseveres amid overwhelming odds, Maxim shared his mantra.

“The only way out is through. There’s no other way,” he said. “I don’t have the strength or the passion or the drive or the dedication of one person anymore. It’s three people.”

In terms of his figure skating future, Maxim isn’t making any definitive plans regarding upcoming competitions or even the Winter Olympics.

“I haven’t made a final decision on what I’m going to do,” he said. “I’m listening to my body, to what I feel when I’m on the ice and it feels really good.”

But throughout it all, Maxim credits his parents with his success.

“I would not be the person I am today without them,” he told Melvin, emotionally. “Their love and their care was evident in each stage of my life. They were always like superheroes to me.”