James Van Der Beek,

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/actor-james-van-der-beek-dies-at-48/

Rep. Jerry Nadler closes eyes during Pam Bondi House Judiciary hearing | Fox News

Rep. Jerry Nadler mocked after appearing to doze off during Bondi hearing opening statements

The 78-year-old Democrat was seen with eyes closed during portions of the attorney general’s House Judiciary Committee testimony

By Ashley Oliver
Fox News

Published February 11, 2026 2:46pm EST

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., was seen with his eyes closed during portions of a key House Judiciary Committee hearing featuring Pam Bondi, leading observers to pan him for sleeping as the attorney general was testifying.

Nadler, a 78-year-old 17-term congressman, was seen with his eyes shut as Bondi gave her opening statement as part of her first appearance before the panel since taking the helm of the DOJ.

The committee’s Republican-led X account shared a video of Nadler with sleeping emojis and observed that Nadler also appeared to doze off as Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the committee, gave his opening remarks.

BONDI HEARING DEVOLVES INTO CHAOS OF SHOUTS AS AG ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF ‘THEATRICS’

Rep. Jerry Nadler speaks to members of the media in New York on Oct. 3, 2025.(Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Don’t worry, @RepNadler. We are tired of listening to @RepRaskin complain about President Trump too!” the committee Republicans wrote.

Another social media user shared a separate video of Nadler appearing with his eyes closed.

Nadler “falls asleep during @AGPamBondi opening statement at today’s DOJ hearing. Gets awaken by staffer #TermLimits,” the user wrote.

The conservative Townhall posted a similar image of Nadler “caught sleeping” during the hearing.

MASSIE, KHANNA TO VISIT DOJ TO REVIEW UNREDACTED EPSTEIN FILES

Rep. Jerry Nadler was seen with his eyes closed during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Feb. 11, 2026.(Fox News Digital)

Nadler was alert when it came time for him to question Bondi, using the moment to spar with her over the DOJ’s efforts to comply with a law that required the department to release all unclassified material related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking cases.

Gun rights activist Andrew Pollack wrote on X that “sleeping during the House Judiciary Committee speaks volumes about how seriously he actually takes the Epstein victims.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Feb. 11, 2026.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Nadler, who previously served as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, announced in September that he would retire from Congress after more than three decades in office.

Nadler’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, covering the Justice Department and legal affairs. Email story tips to ashley.oliver@fox.com.

Senate Republicans face long odds in advancing voter ID legislation, but they’re not backing down.

Huddled behind closed doors on Tuesday, GOP lawmakers attempted to chart a path forward on the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a revamped version of election integrity legislation that has long gathered dust in Congress.

A trio of hardliner conservatives — Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida — have championed the legislation and demanded it be considered in the upper chamber.

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MURKOWSKI BREAKS WITH GOP ON VOTER ID, SAYS PUSH ‘IS NOT HOW WE BUILD TRUST’

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Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is leading the push in the Senate to pass voter ID legislation and is pitching multiple paths that Republicans could take to do it.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Lee gave what lawmakers who attended the meeting described as an impassioned plea to move ahead with the bill, which would require voters to show identification, mandate in-person proof of citizenship when registering and direct states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.

“Nothing in the Senate’s an easy move,” Lee said after the meeting. “This one’s certainly not. But if we want to do this, this is how we have to go about it.”

Indeed, Senate Democrats won’t support the legislation. That means the 60-vote filibuster threshold is, for now, an impossible barrier to breach.

REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILL

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Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., wants Republicans to keep pressing for voter ID legislation and noted how prevalent showing ID is in everyday life.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital that Republicans would continue to press the voter ID issue as common sense, given how prevalent identification is across several aspects of daily life.

“To get on an airplane you need a photo ID. You want to buy a beer at a football game? You need a photo ID. Go to the library, you need a photo ID for just about everything,” Barrasso said. “And now you see Democrats are demanding photo IDs to go to any meetings that they have, and we just saw that in Georgia.”

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But Democratic resistance and moderate GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s rejection of the legislation leave two options, which Lee and others pitched to their colleagues — nuke the filibuster or turn to the standing, or talking, filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., immediately threw cold water on the former.

SCHUMER NUKES GOP PUSH FOR ‘JIM CROW-ERA’ VOTER ID LAWS IN TRUMP-BACKED SHUTDOWN PACKAGE

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Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said all options were on the table to pass voter ID legislation, including turning to the original version of the filibuster.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“It’s not just me not being willing to do it. There aren’t anywhere close to the votes — not even close — to nuking the filibuster,” Thune said. “And so that idea is something, although it continues to be put out there, is something that doesn’t have a future.

“So is there another way of getting there? We’ll see.”

In lieu of nuking the filibuster, which Trump has asked Senate Republicans to do throughout his second term, the GOP is considering turning to the standing filibuster, which existed before the modern 60-vote threshold.

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[image_6]

The modern filibuster is less strenuous than the standing filibuster, which requires lawmakers to debate on the floor. That route could paralyze the upper chamber for hundreds of hours.

Scott told Fox News Digital that during the meeting his colleagues were “starting to understand” the standing filibuster but noted that not everyone was on board yet.

“I think we ought to look at all of our options to get it passed, whether it’s the talking filibuster or whatever it is, to make sure elections are secure,” Scott said. “So, I’m not going to give up.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

5 takeaways from Pam Bondi’s fiery testimony

Analysis by Aaron Blake
Updated Feb 11, 2026, 4:34 PM ET
PUBLISHED Feb 11, 2026, 3:33 PM ET

Attorney General [Pam Bondi’s testimony] in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday was some of the tensest and most combative testimony we’ve seen to date from a Trump Cabinet official.

Bondi came into the hearing with the administration and DOJ facing a series of problems, including their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, the newly reported failed indictments of six Democratic lawmakers, and the killing of two protesters by federal officers in Minneapolis last month.

Below are some takeaways from the hearing:

1. She had a combative — but dicey — Epstein strategy

Early in the hearing, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington asked Epstein survivors in the audience to stand up. And she challenged Bondi on a difficult issue.

She asked Bondi, who had just apologized to the survivors for the abuse they suffered, to also apologize to them for the Justice Department’s [failures to redact survivors’ sensitive personal information].

Bondi paused, as if considering her next move. Then, rather than apologize, she launched into a deflection about her predecessor as attorney general, Merrick Garland. The exchange quickly devolved into arguments and personal attacks.

It was a telling moment. The Justice Department has acknowledged these redaction failures. And the survivors are some of the most sympathetic figures imaginable. But Bondi decided the moment called for combativeness, not contrition.

The rest of the hearing flowed from there. Bondi was extremely combative throughout, doing whatever she could to avoid Democrats’ and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie’s questions about Epstein — in ways that might seem politically unwise.

She also refused Democrats’ repeated entreaties to address the survivors seated behind her — survivors who said DOJ had ignored them — which made for some compelling visuals.

She called a Democrat a “[washed up, loser lawyer.]” She berated another for attacking “the greatest president in American history,” Trump.

When Bondi claimed there was “no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime,” Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California pointed to an unsubstantiated tip about Trump from the Epstein files — something he said counts as evidence — and accused Bondi of lying under oath and called for her to resign. Bondi suggested the lawmaker should focus on “horrific crimes in California” instead.

And when another lawmaker urged her again to consider the survivors sitting nearby, rather than responding she pointed to the expired clock, saying, “Your time is up.”

She talked over her interrogators so much that Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan had to repeatedly remind her that the time belonged to the members, not her.

It seemed Bondi was playing to the “audience of one” — Trump. But that came potentially at the expense of appealing to an American public that really does want answers.

A recent poll, after all, showed Americans [disapprove about 3-to-1] of the administration’s handling of the Epstein files.

The combativeness was normal for Bondi, but it risked looking out of place and like she wasn’t taking a serious issue seriously.

So many Trump officials right now seem to be choosing between doing his bidding and doing what might otherwise seem wise. And Bondi’s performance Wednesday was a case in point.

1. Massie drew some blood in a key exchange

But Bondi couldn’t just go after Democrats. After all, some Republicans have pressed her and her department on this issue.

And an exchange with Massie, the lead Republican behind the Epstein files effort, stood out when it came to actually pinning down the administration.

The Kentuckian pointed to another big redactions issue: How the administration appeared to [errantly redact some men] whom law enforcement at one point appeared to suspect of criminal activity with Epstein. Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California have cited six of them, including billionaire business magnate Les Wexner.

(Wexner has not been accused of a crime, and [a representative has said] he cooperated with law enforcement and was told he “was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect.”)

Bondi noted, as the administration has, that Wexner’s name appeared elsewhere in the documents. But Massie referred to that as a red herring — that the Justice Department happened to redact his name specifically where it was linked to possible crimes.

Bondi then claimed he administration un-redacted Wexner’s name “within 40 minutes.” But Massie accurately noted that only came after he and Khanna had called it out.

“Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed,” Massie clarified.

Bondi went on to call Massie a “failed politician” and a “hypocrite.”

While Democrats tried to highlight the administration’s missteps on this issue, Bondi was often able to muddy the waters by avoiding the question and getting into shouting matches.

Massie’s exchange actually landed.

1. A reprieve from the nastiness

For a brief moment, the lawmakers were reminded of an issue that increasingly inflicts them all. And it brought about a rare [moment of real comity].

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, who has often tussled with Trump-allied witnesses, instead focused on threats that he and his family have faced. After detailing them, he asked Bondi if they were still being investigated.

“I’m just asking for your help to protect life, because life is at risk with the environment we’re in right now,” Swalwell said.

Bondi responded: “They are being looked into, and I can give you more details on those. None of you should be threatened ever. None of your children should be threatened. None of your families should be threatened, and I will work with you.”

The exchange highlighted a sleeping giant of an issue — and one that lawmakers are often reluctant to talk about. But it’s an issue that clearly impacts both sides of the aisle. And for once there was some unity in purpose.

Of course, the two sides have also disagreed vehemently about who is more to blame for political violence — an issue that also came up at another point in the hearing.

1. The hearing pointed to the administration’s many problems.

The way these hearings usually work is that the witnesses’ allies on the committee try to guide things in a more favorable direction. So they’ll focus on issues that play to their strengths.

But those issues were hard to come by.

Some Republicans tried to focus on the Biden Justice Department having subpoenaed the call logs of congressional Republicans — which the GOP has compared to “spying” on them.

But the hearing literally came a day after we learned the Trump DOJ went a whole lot further with six congressional Democrats — actually [trying and failing to indict them]. These people were, yet again, people Trump suggested deserved to be prosecuted.

Bondi focused in her opening remarks on the idea of keeping people safe, citing significant [declines in crime numbers]. And Jordan in his opening statement focused on deportations.

But those too are issue that seem to have gotten away from the administration. An [NBC News poll] released earlier in the morning showed Trump’s disapproval on immigration spiking to 60%. And the administration is still dealing with the fallout from its agents having shot and killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis — situations which have also emerged as major liabilities for the administration.

It was the kind of hearing that could seemingly have used a strong performance, where Bondi directly addressed the issues at hand and tried to right the ship.

But Bondi didn’t come to answer tough questions. She came to survive the hearing.

1. A couple Bondi volleys didn’t land

Bondi, as she has before, came loaded for bear to hit back at lawmakers.

But the downside of that approach is that sometimes you can miss.

Early in the hearing, Bondi rather puzzlingly suggested Democrats on the committee should instead focus on how much the stock market has surged under Trump.

“The Dow is over 50,000 right now, the S&P at almost 7,000, and the NASDAQ smashing records, Americans’ 401(k)s and retirement savings are booming,” Bondi said. “That’s what we should be talking about.”

The stock market is not usually the purview of the Judiciary Committee, which a Democrat quickly pointed out.

Later in the hearing, she attacked Democratic Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont for having voted against [a resolution involving antisemitism].

But Balint is actually the granddaughter of someone who died in the Holocaust.

Balint pointed that out while shouting at Bondi and imploring her, “Are you serious?” Then Balint stormed out of the hearing.

This article has been updated with additional reporting.

波兰女子杀害伴侣分尸埋花园 判监21年

发布时间 / 来源：2026年2月11日 23:16 | 联合早报

一名在英国杀害伴侣并将其分尸后埋在花园的波兰女子，被判至少21年监禁。

现年40岁的波德沃尔纳（Anna Podedworna）于2009年与伴侣扎布洛卡（Izabela Zablocka）从波兰搬到英国中部德比市寻找工作。

隔年，年仅30岁的扎布洛卡与身处波兰的母亲和女儿突然断联，被申报失踪。

检方指，波德沃尔纳于2010年杀害扎布洛卡后，利用其专业屠夫技能将尸体剖成两半埋入花园，随后用水泥覆盖掩埋。

威廉姆斯法官星期三（2月11日）在德比刑事法庭宣判时，对坐在被告席的波德沃尔纳说：“从各方面来看，你之后的生活仿佛从未发生过任何异常事件一样。”

去年，在一名调查扎布洛卡失踪案的波兰记者到访后不久，波德沃尔纳终于向警方透露藏尸地点。

波德沃尔纳声称，她是在一次激烈争吵中出于自卫杀死扎布洛卡，但经过审判后她被判犯有谋杀罪。

威廉姆斯法官说：“你以如此方式残害伊莎贝拉（扎布洛卡）的遗体，却丝毫未表现出悔意……你是在愤怒之下杀死了那个你憎恨的伴侣。”

波德沃尔纳也因妨碍合法安葬和妨碍司法公正被判罪成。

总干事伊维拉：世贸组织须紧急推动改革 | 联合早报

发布/2026年2月11日 23:32

总干事伊维拉：世贸组织须紧急推动改革

世界贸易组织总干事伊维拉说，在地缘政治紧张局势加剧之际，世贸组织必须紧急进行改革。 （法新社）

世界贸易组织总干事伊维拉说，在地缘政治紧张局势加剧之际，世贸组织必须紧急推进自我改革，并直言“维持现状绝非选项”。

法新社报道，伊维拉（Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala）星期三（2月11日）说，当前“多边组织是否仍具现实意义”正引发广泛质疑，世贸组织已“处于关键转折点”。

这个负责监管全球大部分贸易规则的机构，正面临越来越大的改革压力。许多人认为，世贸组织的现行体系和架构已经过时，难以跟上快速变化的世界。

伊维拉在活动上发表讲话时强调：“我们这类多边组织必须顺应时代需求进行变革，通过改革适应时代发展。我认为，维持现状绝非选项。”

她在日内瓦世贸组织总部发表演讲时，援引人工智能和量子技术的发展速度指出“世界变化如此之快”，强调“如果组织不能适应，就会被时代淘汰。”

下月在喀麦隆举行的世贸组织部长级会议将以改革为核心议题。

立即订阅《联合早报》，洞察全球局势异动，把握世界经济发展脉搏，解锁国际热点评析。

---

特别优惠

早报数码配套个人版（每年付费）

每月S$9.90S$4.95

*第一年S$59.40，第二年起每年S$118.80

世界贸易组织
改革

节点运行失败

节点运行失败

Explainer: Five things holding up a deal on US immigration operations

February 11, 2026 5:34 PM UTC / Reuters

By Richard Cowan

节点运行失败

A Minnesota state policeman speaks to a woman sitting inside an ICE vehicle after she was briefly detained on Interstate 35W by Federal immigration agents while they conduct immigration enforcement tasks in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., February 3, 2026. REUTERS/Seth Herald Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress faces a midnight (EST) Friday deadline for a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of immigration enforcement operations that have ramped up across the United States under Trump administration policies.

Here are five difficult topics Republicans and Democrats are grappling with:

The Reuters Inside Track newsletter is your essential guide to the biggest events in global sport. Sign up here.

NEW CONTROLS ON HOW ICE AND CBP AGENTS OPERATE

Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives want Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents — especially those on roving patrols — to shed their face masks and wear legible name and badge IDs. They also want agents to wear body cameras and procedures written into law making camera footage available during investigations of conduct.

Other Democratic demands include requiring judicial warrants before DHS officers can enter private property.

Republicans argue Democrats’ constraints could endanger agents or their families, while Democrats say these are long-held practices police departments and other law enforcement forces abide by.

NEW CONTROLS ON WHERE ICE AND CBP OPERATE

Democrats say no more ICE or CBP agents hanging out at churches, schools, hospitals, voting places and courts to try to nab immigrants.

TIGHTER ‘SAFEGUARDS’ ON DETENTION FACILITIES

The buildings must grant immediate access to detainees’ lawyers to prevent U.S. citizens from arrest or detention, Democrats argue. They also want to end impediments they say the Trump administration erects when members of Congress try to visit detention centers as part of their oversight powers.

REPUBLICAN DEMANDS FOR SAFEGUARDING FEDERAL AGENTS

Democrats focus on safeguarding the public from what they see as overzealous ICE and CBP operations that have seen the killings of two U.S. citizens and growing public backlash in cities throughout the country. Republicans are focused on providing safety for federal agents to carry out arrests and deportations of immigrants in the country illegally, as ordered by President Donald Trump. Doing so will make American towns and cities safer, they argue.

They want new provisions in a $64.4 billion DHS funding bill to punish

Team USA’s Elizabeth Lemley and Jaelin Kauf win gold and silver in women’s moguls at Winter Olympics

Updated on: February 11, 2026 / 11:55 AM EST / CBS/AP

Elizabeth Lemley and Jaelin Kauf won gold and silver for Team USA in women’s freestyle moguls skiing at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

Lemley won the eight-skier final with a score of 82.30 points. The 20-year-old from Vail, Colorado, is making her Olympic debut at the Milan Cortina Games.

During the medal ceremony, Lemley’s gold detached from its ribbon, an issue that organizers have acknowledged has been happening to a “limited number” of medalists. At a news conference afterward, Lemley displayed her repaired medal.

Elizabeth Lemley of Team USA celebrates after winning gold in women’s freestyle moguls skiing at Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 11, 2026. Reuters/Hannah Mckay

Kauf repeated as silver medalist with a score of 80.77. The 29-year-old from Alta, Wyoming, also won silver in 2022 in Beijing.

Both of Kauf’s parents were professional mogul skiers.

“My mom has always been my biggest hero and role model, just watching how she’s just gone at life and done what she’s done, pushing the boundaries,” she told CBS News ahead of the Games.

Jaelin Kauf and Elizabeth Lemley of Team USA hug each other after their runs in the women’s moguls finals at the Winter Olympics in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 11, 2026. Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

Perrine Laffont of France, the 2018 gold medalist, took bronze in Wednesday’s finals.

Defending champion Jakara Anthony of Australia finished eighth after slipping on the last run of the final.

Ukrainian official denies plan to announce elections soon despite pressure from Trump

February 11, 2026 / 11:19 AM EST / CBS News

Kyiv — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not plan to make an announcement about looming presidential elections on Feb. 24, an adviser to the Ukrainian leader told CBS News on Wednesday, after a report suggested he would schedule a national vote due to pressure from President Trump.

“There is no change in the negotiations track that would lead the president to make this announcement,” said the adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Financial Times reported earlier that Zelenskyy did plan to announce presidential elections would be held as soon as May during an address on Feb. 24, the date that will mark four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Zelenskyy told journalists in Kyiv last week that the Trump administration was pushing Ukraine and Russia to agree to a deal to end the war by June.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visit the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine, outside the Saint Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 5, 2026. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout/REUTERS

“The Americans are proposing the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer and will probably put pressure on the parties precisely according to this schedule,” Zelenskyy said.

Mr. Trump has at times been fiercely critical of Zelenskyy, including in comments one year ago when he called him a “dictator without elections.” But Ukrainian politicians point out that under the country’s constitution, national elections cannot be held during martial law — which has been imposed since Russia launched its war.

Are elections feasible in Ukraine as the war continues?

In December, President Trump renewed that line of criticism, accusing Zelenskyy of “using the war” to avoid elections in an interview with Politico.

The Ukrainian leader responded to Mr. Trump’s comments then, saying elections could be held if the U.S. and Europe were prepared to “ensure security” in his country amid Russia’s ongoing assault.

Large public gatherings have been prohibited in Ukraine and curfews remain in place under the martial law measures intended to protect civilian life. Meanwhile,Russia’s deadly airstrikes show no sign of abating.

In January alone, Russia hit Ukraine with a record 5,717 bombs and missiles, according to an analysis by the Ukrainian group Oko Gora + News and Analytics. Explosive drone attacks have also been relentless. Officials said one drone hit a civilian home overnight in the Kharkiv region, killing a father and his three toddlers and seriously wounding his pregnant wife.

A photo shared by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows firefighters trying to put out the blaze after an alleged Russian drone strike destroyed a house in the village of Zolochiv, in the city of Bohodukhiv in northeast Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, killing a man and his three young children and leaving their heavily pregnant mother in critical condition, Feb. 11, 2026. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout

On top of the security risks, experts say legal and logistical constraints also make holding elections during the war nearly impossible. According to Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, it is illegal to hold either parliamentary or presidential elections under martial law.

The war has also driven many Ukrainian voters out of the country, and there’s little infrastructure in place to enable remote voting. As of November 2024, there were some 5.2 million Ukrainian refugees abroad, according to the Center for Economic Strategy, while United Nation’s International Organization for Migration estimates an additional 3 million Ukrainians are internally displaced and would also be unable to vote at local polling stations.

For all those reasons, Ukrainian officials say elections cannot be held before a ceasefire comes into effect.

Many also argue that any national election should include or accompany a referendum for the Ukrainian people to back — or reject — the terms of any eventual deal to end the war, which could include Ukraine making territorial concessions, though Zelenskyy has thus far ruled that out.

According to the president’s office, such a referendum would only be valid if more than half of the country’s eligible voters are able to participate.

“Elections are just one part of a peace plan,” the Ukrainian presidential adviser told CBS News on Wednesday. “We will vote on all points of the peace plan together, and we cannot cherry pick elections separately.”

Friend says Maxim Naumov’s Olympic debut was a dream he shared with his parents, as he carries on their legacy

February 11, 2026 / 11:44 AM EST / CBS News

Milan— When Maxim Naumov stepped onto Olympic ice at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan on Tuesday, he wasn’t alone.

As the music began and the lights reflected off the rink, the 24-year-old American skater was fulfilling a dream he shared with his parents, former Olympic pairs skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. They were both killed last year in the midair collision over the Potomac River.

“It was a dream that all of them had,” Susan Hamel-Bottari, a coach at the Skating Club of Boston and a close friend of the family, told CBS News after Naumov skated. “He always says it’s not one, it’s three.”

That dream played out at the Milano Ice Skating Arena during the men’s short program competition on Tuesday.

Right before he took the ice, on the jumbotron over his head, a message appeared: “Mom and Dad, this is for you.”

Figure skater Maxim Naumov of the U.S. during his short program routine at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in the Winter Olympics on Feb. 10, 2026, in Milan, Italy. Joris Verwijst/BSR Agency/Getty

Naumov then delivered one of the strongest skates of his career, earning a score of 85.65, enough to advance to the free skate round later this week.

But the numbers told only part of his story.

After finishing his program, he dropped to his knees and looked up. The crowd in the stadium let their emotions pour out as well, giving him a standing ovation.

He later pulled out a photo of himself as a small boy and future Olympian, standing on the ice for the first time between his parents.

Team USA’s Maxim Naumov holds a picture of himself with his parents, after competing in the figure skating men’s singles short program during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Feb. 10, 2026. WANG Zhao/AFP

“I didn’t know if I was going to cry, smile or laugh,” Naumov said afterward. “All I could do was look up at them. I still can’t believe what just happened.”

Inside his Team USA jacket, he carried a short message — one of his father’s favorite reminders: “Expect the unexpected.”

The past year has tested that advice in unimaginable ways.

Shishkova and Naumov were among 67 people killed last year when the passenger aircraft they were on collided with a military helicopter near Washington, D.C. They were on their way home from a skating development camp.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova are seen competing at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Feb. 15, 1994. Chris Cole/Allsport/Getty

The tragedy devastated their tight-knit skating community, including the Skating Club of Boston, which lost several members.

Hamel-Bottari remembers the shock of that day, and what came after.

“I didn’t know how to respond to him,” she said. “I just told him I would always be there for him.”

His resilience in the months since has been inspiring, Hamel-Bottari told CBS News.

“Every day he would come to the rink, no matter what,” she said. “No matter what he was feeling inside, he showed up. He’s mentally tough. He’s a fighter.”

Naumov leaned into his training, finding both refuge and release.

“With every glide and step that I made on the ice, I couldn’t help but feel their presence,” he said. “Almost like a chess piece on a chessboard.”

Beyond his own competitive goals, Naumov has also carried on with his parents’ work. They founded Tomorrow’s Champions, a development program at the Skating Club of Boston designed to train young skaters through a rigorous mix of on-ice sessions, off-ice conditioning, gymnastics and ballet.

Even while training for the Olympics, Naumov continued teaching in the program.

“The kids love him,” Hamel-Bottari said. “He’s very positive. He learned from the best — from both of them.”

Many of those young skaters were watching as Naumov took to the ice in Milan. Some traveled to Italy and held up handmade signs with their handprints and names. Others cheered from home.

“For us, as the Skating Club of Boston family, to see him and know what we went through, it just brings tears to your eyes,” Hamel-Bottari said. “Tonight, he did it.”

Naumov has said that he wasn’t focused on perfection in his Olympic debut.

“I wanted to go out there and just give my heart out,” he said. “Leave everything out there. Have no regrets.”

Amid all the inspirational Olympic storylines, Naumov’s performance stood apart for reasons far beyond scores and standings.