HOUSTON – One year after a deadly plane crash over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. claimed the lives of 64 people, including a group of figure skaters and coaches, a Houston figure skating coach is holding tightly to the memories of the friends she grew up with on the ice.
Elena Prudsky keeps the photos close.
Recommended Videos
In them, she and her friends, Evgenia Shiskova and Vadim Naumov, were teenagers, bundled up, smiling, standing rinkside during long training days in St. Petersburg, Russia. They were young, ambitious, and chasing the same dream.
“That’s our picture when we were still kids,” said Prudsky.
Shiskova and Naumov were a husband-and-wife Olympic pair team. They were also World Champions in 1994.
Prudsky, Shishkova, and Naumov grew up training together in Russia, spending countless early mornings and long days on the ice. What started as shared practices quickly became something deeper.
“We were always together,” Prudsky said. “Competitions, camps, school, everything.”
That closeness extended far beyond skating. One photo shows the trio years later at Prudsky’s wedding, Shishkova standing beside her as her best friend, Naumov chatting with Prudsky’s husband, Val.
As adults, their paths eventually stretched across the United States.
Prudsky and her husband Val, also a figure skating coach, settled in Houston. Shishkova and Naumov built their lives and coaching careers in the Northeast, becoming well-known figures in the Boston skating community.
Even when distance separated them, the connection never faded.
“Later on we started teaching, we would see each other at competitions,” Prudsky said. “It was like no time had passed.”
Val Prutsky also developed a close friendship with the pair over the years.
“They were amazing people,” he said. “Very kind. Their relationship was perfect.”
One year ago, everything changed.
Shishkova and Naumov were killed in the mid-air plane crash in Washington, D.C., over the Potomac River — a tragedy that sent shockwaves, especially in the figure skating community.
Prudsky remembers exactly how she found out.
“We were driving to morning practice,” she said. “I saw a voice message from my mom. That was a horrible morning. I didn’t want to believe it.”
Val said the loss was overwhelming.
“I didn’t know how to handle the situation,” he said. “I knew how close they were.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when rinks in Boston shut down, Shishkova and Naumov came to Houston to continue coaching. Their son, Maxim, a rising figure skater, trained on the same ice alongside them.
Last month, Maxim Naumov clinched a bronze medal at the U.S. National Championships in St. Louis, earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic figure skating team.
Watching his performance was emotional for everyone who knew his parents.
“I jumped a lot,” Val Prudsky said. “I knew Max is gonna make it, I literally cried. I was so happy for him."
When asked how proud she believes Shishkova and Naumov would be of their son, Prudsky didn’t hesitate.
"I think that was their dream," she said.