It’s impossible to imagine what American skater Maxim Naumov has been through over the past 12 months.

Just over a year ago, his parents, former world champion pairs skaters Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, One of 67 people killed in a plane crash in Washington, DC. Among the people on board were 28 athletes, coaches or parents associated with U.S. Figure Skating.

Naumov said his dream was to join Team USA, which was the last thing he talked about with his parents before they were killed.

“They are my superheroes, my role models and my biggest support system. I just want to make them proud here,” he told the BBC after the show.

“My dad said, ‘It’s all practice until the Olympics.’ I can’t describe to you how strongly I feel about what he said. And, I really don’t have the words to describe being able to step up and I just hope I make them proud.”

He competed in the Olympics and finished second on the ice Tuesday dancing to Frédéric Chopin’s “Nocturne No. 20.”

After slipping in three and a half weeks, Naumov regained his composure and skated with solid technique.

As he finished the game, the 24-year-old fell to his knees and looked to the sky with tears in his eyes as the arena erupted. Cameras captured him smiling broadly and saying “thank you” — perhaps to people in the arena and another location.

That was good enough for the judges, who gave Naumov’s performance a season-high score of 85.65, good enough to crack the top 24 and earn a spot in Friday’s free skate.

As the score came out, Naumov held up a photo of his late parents with him as children.

“I carry it with me everywhere I go,” he said of the photo, which shows him standing next to the rink, holding hands with his parents. “It’s in my bag, so it’s in my heart.

“They should be here, next to me, looking up at the score and saying, ‘Look what we just did!'”