Ilia Malinin “parents plane crash” rumor resurfaces—what major athlete profiles actually say

As Olympics coverage intensifies, a false claim that Ilia Malinin’s parents died in a plane crash has resurfaced online—often paired with his name, photos, or highlight clips. The problem: the claim doesn’t match the public record in widely circulated athlete profiles. Malinin’s parents are alive, and they are a central part of his story because they coach him and have their own Olympic backgrounds.

The confusion is not just a random internet error. It appears to be a case of two figure-skating narratives getting tangled as posts are reposted without context, especially during the team event and the lead-up to the men’s singles competition.

What the profiles say about his parents

In the most widely shared biographical profiles published ahead of the 2026 Games, Malinin’s parents are consistently described as his coaches and as former Olympic skaters themselves. The same names appear across those profiles: Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov.

They are described as having competed internationally for Uzbekistan, later transitioning into coaching after their competitive careers. The profiles also emphasize how unusual it is at this level for an athlete’s day-to-day coaching team to be his parents—framing it as both an advantage (deep familiarity, constant support) and a unique pressure point (high expectations, little separation between home and training).

One additional detail that has circulated recently: his mother has been described as not planning to attend the Games in person, a decision characterized as mutual and practical rather than dramatic.

The family tragedy being confused with Malinin’s

The plane-crash tragedy that has been prominently covered in U.S. figure skating involves a different athlete: Maxim Naumov. His parents—Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, both highly accomplished former pairs skaters and coaches—died in a plane crash in 2025. That loss has been repeatedly referenced in human-interest coverage of his Olympic journey.

As Olympic attention has grown, posts about Naumov’s story have sometimes been miscaptioned or reposted with Malinin’s name. Once that happens, the mix-up spreads quickly because Malinin is a bigger search term right now, so misinformation “sticks” to the name people are already looking up.

Why the rumor spreads so easily during the Olympics

This kind of confusion tends to surge during major events for a few reasons:

• High-volume reposting: short clips travel farther than careful explanations, and captions get stripped away.

• Story-template thinking: audiences remember “a skater overcame tragedy,” then that detail gets attached to the wrong person.

• Similar visuals: rink shots, coach-at-the-boards moments, and family reactions can look interchangeable in quick edits.

• Algorithmic momentum: once a false pairing gets engagement, it’s shown to more people, creating repetition that feels like confirmation.

The result is a rumor that “sounds” like it could be true to someone encountering it for the first time, even though it conflicts with basic biographical reporting.

Quick guide to tell the stories apart

Here’s the simplest way to separate the two narratives that keep getting tangled:

What to take from this—and what not to amplify

The safest approach is to treat dramatic personal claims as unverified unless they match the basic facts repeated in established athlete bios: names, roles, and consistent details across multiple profiles. In this case, Malinin’s real family story is already compelling without tragedy: a skater raised and coached by two former Olympians, pushing technical limits on the biggest stage.

And for Naumov, accuracy matters for a different reason: his story involves real loss, and misattributing it doesn’t just misinform—it also blurs the reality of what he has endured.

Sources consulted: Reuters, NBC Olympics, TIME, Olympics.com