![\"Maxim](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/KDY2OS5WK6BTPCUJCV7V2RVJVI.jpg\")
Maxim Naumov will carry his best-ever finish at the senior level to Italy for the Olympics.John Tlumacki\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n
Naumov was peppered with questions about the tragedy all week at the championships, and again Wednesday. He continued to face it all with thoughtfulness and introspection.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking the Olympic team is such an honor, but my finding the courage and strength to actually go to Nationals and compete and do my job, that just brought tears to my eyes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Naumov pointed to Chan and Howe\u2019s free skate, where they moved up from eighth in the short program to fourth overall, as further motivation for his own Olympic-berth clinching free skate. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey showed so much courage also coming back from the short that had a few big mistakes in it, and them pulling through and locking in completely in the free, it was inspiring for me too,\u201d said Naumov. <\/p>\n
Howe and Naumov are former roommates. After Howe learned he and Chan made the team Sunday, he awaited word on Naumov as the Olympic team gathered for NBC\u2019s selection show.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs people were rolling into the locker room, we were starting to see who\u2019s on the team and congratulate each other,\u201d Howe said. \u201cI was just praying the whole time, \u2018I want Max to walk through that door.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cIronically, he\u2019s one of the last ones to come through. And when he did, he looked at me and I was like, \u2018What\u2019s up, man?\u2019 And he literally jumped on me, we screamed and jumped up and down for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Emily](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GPW7DOKESDRPZLOXR5Z53KXTDA.jpg\")
Emily Chan and Spencer Howe spoke to the media at The Skating Club of Boston.John Tlumacki\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n
Chan and Howe are relieved to have made the Olympic team. Their seven-year partnership has had more of its share of challenges, including years of shoulder injuries for Howe. At Wednesday\u2019s practice, they were focused on the details of their short program: the execution of side-by-side spins and the way Howe exits a death spiral. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep doing what we\u2019ve been doing and, and so when we get to the Olympics, we can rely on the training and all the hard work that we have put in,\u201d Howe said.<\/p>\n
![\"Spencer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/NXT2WBFNJGVNHQ5BKE3N22WNTM.jpg\")
Spencer Howe and Emily Chan were on the ice at The Skating Club of Boston to practice for the Milan Cortina Games.John Tlumacki\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n
All have some non-skating things they want to do in Milan Cortina. Naumov wants to see a hockey game (particularly one with Canada\u2019s Tom Wilson, his longtime favorite player), Chan hopes to be at the games with her boyfriend, Estonian skater Aleksandr Selevko (who will find out this weekend if he will be competing), and Howe plans on doing his competition ritual: \u201cEat, pray, and take a nap.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c(My parents<\/a>) told me that the Olympics is such a celebration,\u201d said Naumov. \u201cIt\u2019s the culmination of just years of your life dedicated to this one thing. I want to soak that all in.\u201d<\/p>\n Training mates Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov won their second straight national title and would have made the Olympic team if Efimova\u2019s quest for expedited US citizenship<\/a> had been successful. Instead they are preparing for the Four Continents Championships next week in Beijing.<\/p>\n It is a whirlwind to go from winning a national title to hopping on a 16-hour flight to an important competition a week later. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are physically in good shape, knock on wood, because we just came back from competition,\u201d Mitrofanov said. \u201cFor us it\u2019s more of a mental aspect of how to calm our minds and reset ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n The disappointment in not being eligible for the Olympic team doesn\u2019t easily go away. Efimova said nationals and citizenship experiences will influence the pair\u2019s offseason decisions. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel definitely this situation and these Nationals, it left us with some kind of hunger to make it,\u201d said Efimova. \u201cIf in four years [we make it] to the Olympics, I think it would be even more valuable, even more precious.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Volin and Gary Washburn debate if the Patriots are Super Bowl bound. Without Alex Bregman is it panic time for the Red Sox? Watch the full episode.<\/p>\n