The figure skating son of the former world champions and coaches who were killed in the American Airlines tragedy in Washington, DC, broke down sobbing after an emotional performance for his late parents.
Maxim Naumov, 23, took to the ice for the grief-stricken performance at a charity event in DC on Sunday in honor of his parents — Evgenia “Zhenya” Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — and the dozens of other figure skating community members onboard the doomed flight.
Harrowing video showed the skater weeping on his knees in the middle of the ice just moments after he finished his routine.
He was then filmed wiping away tears as he skated off the ice clutching a candle.
His Russian-born parents had been flying back from a US Figure Skating competition and training camp on Jan. 29 when the AA plane collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River — killing all 67 people onboard.
Maxim had competed at the national event, where he placed fourth, but flew back home several days before his parents.
His parents, who had been coaches with the Skating Club of Boston when they were killed, won the pairs title at the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships.
Maxim was joined at the Legacy on Ice benefit event by a star-studded group of some of the best American figure skaters — including national champion Amber Glenn, two-time Olympian Johnny Weir and reigning men’s world champion Ilia Malinin.
Glenn, too, broke down when she finished skating.
“We’re all here to support one another, whether it was our friends that were on that plane, family members, coaches, teammates, loved ones,” 2014 Olympic team bronze medalist Jason Brown said.
“We all travel for this sport. We get to do what we love. And travel is such a huge part of what we do, so it all hit us really hard because this is just such an integral part of what we do, as well as those are people that we’re closest to.”
