Overview
- Naumov scored 85.65 points for seventh place in the men’s short program, securing a place in Friday’s free skate.
- After finishing, he held up and kissed a childhood photo with his parents, drawing a standing ovation from the Milan crowd.
- His parents, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were 1994 pair skating world champions who died in a Jan. 29, 2025 mid-air collision that killed 67 people, including 28 from the U.S. skating community.
- German commentator Daniel Weiss criticized the judging as unfair and said he was shocked by the marks, while Naumov took the result in stride.
- Naumov qualified for Milan/Cortina by placing third at the U.S. event in Saint Louis behind Ilia Malinin and Andrew Torgashev, continuing his comeback under coach Wladimir Petrenko.