Evgenia Shishkova

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Vasilievna and the family name is Shishkova.

Evgenia Vasilievna Shishkova (Russian: Евгения Васильевна Шишкова; 18 December 1972 – 29 January 2025) was a Russian figure skating coach and competitor. With her husband Vadim Naumov, she was the 1994 world champion and the 1995–96 Champions Series Final champion.

Evgenia Shishkova
Full name	Evgenia Vasilievna Shishkova
Native name	Евгения Васильевна Шишкова
Born	(1972-12-18)18 December 1972 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	29 January 2025(2025-01-29) (aged 52) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Height	4 ft 10 in (147 cm)
Figure skating career
Country	Russia CIS Soviet Union
Partner	Vadim Naumov
Coach	Ludmila Velikova
Retired	1998
Medal record Figure skating: Pairs Representing  Russia World Championships 1994 Chiba Pairs 1995 Birmingham Pairs 1993 Prague Pairs European Championships 1995 Dortmund Pairs 1994 Copenhagen Pairs 1993 Helsinki Pairs Grand Prix Final 1995–1996 Paris Pairs Representing  CIS European Championships 1992 Lausanne Pairs Representing  Soviet Union European Championships 1991 Sofia Pairs

Shishkova died on 29 January 2025, when American Eagle Flight 5342 collided with an U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter while the jet was on approach to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Career

Shishkova and Naumov were introduced in 1985 by Naumov's coach who wanted them to skate together.^[1] Naumov initially rebuffed the idea because he did not wish to change partners; however after several tryouts, he and Shishkova agreed to be a team.^[1] They landed a throw triple jump during their first training and began competing together in 1987.^[2]

In 1991 Shishkova/Naumov won bronze at their first European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria and placed 5th at the World Championships in Munich, Germany. During the next season, they competed at their first Olympics, the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, placing fifth. Shishkova/Naumov won their first World Championships' medal–bronze–at the 1993 World Championships. The pair placed 4th at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. They just missed out on Olympic bronze, with 4 judges out of 5 placing them 3rd ahead of eventual bronze medal winners, the Canadians Brasseur & Eisler. People in the public whistled when the marks appeared on the jumbotron. The pair ended the season by becoming world champions in Chiba, Japan east of Tokyo on 23rd March 1994.^[3]

Shishkova/Naumov won their third World Championships' medal, which was silver at the 1995 World Championships in Birmingham, England. Despite skating a clean free program, they lost to a flawed free skate by the eventual winners Kovarikova & Novotny. From 1991 to 1995, the pair also won five European Championships medals. In February 1996, they won gold at the 1995–96 Champions Series Final (later renamed the Grand Prix Final) in Paris.^[4] At the 1996 World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Shishkova/Naumov were third after the short program. In the long program, four judges gave first-place votes to Marina Eltsova / Andrei Bushkov who finished as gold medalists. Four judges voted in favor of Shishkova/Naumov, however, low scores from the other five judges left them off the podium in 4th place.^[5]

Shishkova/Naumov missed most of the 1996/97 season following Naumov's collar bone injury that he suffered in the summer and early fall of 1996. They did not make the 1998 Winter Olympic team for Russia as they placed 4th at Russian Nationals' in December 1997. They decided to retire from ISU competition in 1998 and skate and turn professional.^[1] The pair won the World Professional Championships in Jaca, Spain, in April 1998. Next they transitioned into coaching, working at the International Skating Center in Simsbury, Connecticut northwest of Hartford.^[6][7] They moved and became coaches at the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts west of Quincy, in February 2017.^[8]

Personal life and death

Shishkova and Naumov married in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 7 August 1995.^[9] They settled in Simsbury in 1998.^[1] Their son, Maxim Naumov, was born in August 2001 and competes in men's singles for the United States.^[10][11]

On 29 January 2025, Naumov and Shishkova both died on American Eagle Flight 5342 that collided with an U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter while the jet was on approach to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.^[12][13][14] They were returning from Wichita, Kansas, where they participated in a development camp for young skaters, days following the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.^[15] The Skating Club of Boston, where the couple coached, lost six skaters in the crash. Their son, Maxim, who had competed at the U.S. Championships, was not onboard the plane, having flown out of Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport two days before the crash took place.^[16][17][18] On March 2, 2025, U.S. Figure Skating held an ice show called Legacy on Ice, which paid tribute to Shishkova and the other victims that lost their lives aboard American Eagle Flight 5342.^[19] Maxim performed to Shishkova and Naumov's favorite song, "Город, которого нет (The City That Doesn't Exist)" by Igor Kornelyuk, to honor his parents.^[20]

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
1998–99 (PRO)	Summer of '42 by Michel Legrand	Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi	Nocturne by Secret Garden Summertime performed by Sublime
1997–98	Toccata and Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach	Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus	Ave Maria by Charles Gounod, Johann Sebastian Bach
1996–97	Ave Maria by Charles Gounod, Johann Sebastian Bach	Meditation (from Thaïs) by Jules Massenet	Act 1, No. 2 Cavatina: Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
1995–96		Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus	Act 1, No. 2 Cavatina: Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini Danse des petits cygnes from Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
1994–95	Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Camille Saint-Saëns	Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert	Chi Mai by Ennio Morricone Act 1, No. 2 Cavatina: Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
1993–94		Die Fledermaus[21] by Johann Strauss II	Take Five performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
1992–93	Colonel Bogey March by F. J. Ricketts		Slap That Bass by George Gershwin The Entertainer by Scott Joplin Nature Boy by Nat King Cole
1991–92	Take Five performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet	Medley: La Festa Degli Angeli (Concerto No.3, RV 310) arranged by James Last composed by Antonio Vivaldi Industrial Revolution, Pt. 1 by Jean-Michel Jarre	Boogie-woogie The Entertainer by Scott Joplin
1990–91	I Dub U performed by Freeez

Competitive highlights

GP: Champions Series (Grand Prix)

With Naumov:

• Soviet Union (URS): Start of career through December 1991
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): 1992 European and World Championships
• Unified Team at the Olympics (EUN): 1992 Olympics
• Russia (RUS): 1992–93 to end of career

International[22]
Event	88–89	89–90	90–91	91–92	92–93	93–94	94–95	95–96	96–97	97–98
Winter Olympics				5th		4th
World Champ.			5th	5th	3rd	1st	2nd	4th
European Champ.			3rd	3rd	3rd	2nd	3rd		5th
GP Final								1st		5th
GP Cup of Russia										2nd
GP NHK Trophy								1st	2nd
GP Skate America										2nd
GP Skate Canada								1st
Centennial On Ice								1st
Goodwill Games							3rd
Inter. de Paris					1st
Moscow News	5th
Nations Cup				2nd		1st
Nebelhorn Trophy		2nd
NHK Trophy				1st	1st
Skate America					3rd	1st	2nd
Skate Canada			2nd
National[23][24]
Russian Champ.					1st	3rd		1st	3rd
Soviet Champ.			1st	2nd