From emotional to the magnificent: How Maxim Naumov and Ilia Malinin are spearheading men’s figure skating

By Ben Church, CNN

(CNN) — When Maxim Naumov made his figure skating debut at the Winter Olympics on Tuesday, he did so with a beaming smile that lit up the Milan Ice Skating Arena.

The 24-year-old had achieved his life’s ambition, successfully following in his parents’ footsteps by becoming an Olympian, the ultimate achievement and result of years of sacrifice and hard work.

And yet as Naumov fell to his knees and covered his head with his hands at the end of his short program routine, you would be forgiven for thinking the moment might have felt bittersweet.

Just over a year ago, Naumov lost both his parents in a midair plane crash over the Potomac River near Washington, DC. Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were the reason their son fell in love with the sport of figure skating and had coached him towards his dream of representing Team USA at a Winter Games.

And while neither was standing by the side of the rink on Tuesday, cheering their only son on, Naumov said he very much felt them nearby.

“I felt like I was guided by them today, feeling their presence with every glide that I made on the ice,” he told reporters.

“I couldn’t help but feel their support, almost like a chess piece on a chess board, just from one element to another.”

The American has gone through unimaginable heartbreak over the past 12 months as he tries to come to terms with the impossible.

Anyone who has lost a loved one knows how hard it is to go back to your normal routine. Your perspective shifts, you battle to come to terms with a new identity and, deep down, you change irreversibly.

But Naumov has found peace and purpose in doing the hard things that come with recovery and that includes figure skating.

“Lacing up those skates for the first time was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life,” Naumov told CNN Sports’ Coy Wire before heading to the Games.

“I just want to show everybody the value of resilience in our family, never giving up, pushing and gritting your teeth and fighting tooth and nail for every single thing that you possibly can.

“That’s how I was raised and I want people to know that I want to be an example for those other people that might be going through something.”

‘We did it together’

His raw and soul-baring performance earned Naumov a season-best score of 85.65, leaving him 14th on the leaderboard. He will go again on Friday in the free skating section of the event, which will ultimately decide where the medals will go.

But it was obvious to anyone inside the arena on Tuesday that Naumov’s performance was about more than points – he said as much himself.

For once, the hunt for medals wasn’t important; just his ability to compete at the highest level is worth more than any amount of gold.

That was clear when the words “Mom, Dad, this is for you” appeared on the big screens inside the stadium just before his routine began, and when he held up a childhood photo of them as he awaited his score. It’s a photo he keeps, quite literally, close to his heart and one that reminds him that he’ll never be alone.

“I finished on my knees and I didn’t know if I was going to cry, smile or laugh, and all I could do was just look up and say, ‘Look what we just did.’ I said it in English. I said in Russian. And it’s true. We did it together,” Naumov said when asked what he said to himself at the end of his performance.

“I just hope I made everyone proud.”

Malinin-mania

And while Naumov’s performance will prove to be one of the defining moments of the Games, you feel his teammate Ilia Malinin might turn out to be the star.

The self-proclaimed “Quad God” exploded onto the ice for his short program routine on Tuesday, receiving a massive score of 108.16 points. It saw him race to the top of the leaderboard and sit more than five points clear of his closest rival.

Complete with his signature backflip, Malinin’s performance was far cleaner than the one that still inspired Team USA to gold in the team event at the weekend. The worrying thing for his rivals is that there’s still much room for improvement.

The eyes of the world will be on the 21-year-old come Friday, with his fans eager to see what he’ll do next as he continues to take the sport to another level.

There is just something different about watching him on the ice compared to his competitors.

Maybe it’s because everyone knows how good he is that the atmosphere changes a bit, everyone pays a bit more attention and reacts a bit louder when he lands one of his stunning skills.

He threw everything into Tuesday’s performance, his face contorting as he transformed into whatever character he was playing in his head. It’s no surprise that he’s fast becoming a living legend of the sport.

“It’s really just such a piece of art,” he told reporters about his love for figure skating.

“Not a lot of people can do that, and I’m so grateful to be surrounded by so many amazing athletes, so many different artists on the ice. We put an effort into this competition to make it as beautiful as it can be.”

The pair will be back on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena on Friday to compete for the medals, with the event set to start shortly after 1 p.m. ET.

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