By Hiro Yoshida 

A mere three years after her European Championship debut, Niina Petrõkina is back at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in her hometown of Tallinn, Estonia and this time she is not just there happy to make up the numbers.

This month last year Petrõkina was thousands of kilometres away while Europeans took place in Kaunas, Lithuania after being sidelined with a broken left fibula in December 2023. It was particularly frustrating given the fact that the first half of the season had been successful and included a bronze medal at 2023 Skate America, the first ever Grand Prix podium finish for an Estonian skater.

“I was on vacation in the Canary Islands,” she said. “I watched the competition, but I was on the beach in the sunshine.

“Everyone told me that it was such a good Europeans. And I was like, ‘I am on vacation. Don’t tell me!’ Of course, I really wanted to go there.”

Although she did miss out on Europeans last season, Petrõkina did make it to the World Championships in Montreal, Canada in March 2024 despite not being at full fitness.

“I really wanted to go to the Estonian Championships and Europeans of course, but I couldn’t change anything,” she said. “The only thing that I could do was go to Worlds, and I just worked hard. My leg at Worlds still was not very good, and I couldn’t jump triple toe. I worked only with the right part of my body.”

Surprisingly, she finished seventh in the short programme but faltered in the free skating due to her preparations being hampered by the injury. Even though the season did not finish the way she wanted,  Petrõkina views it as a victory that she made it to Montreal and believes the rehabilitation set her up well for this season.

“Yes, I was really disappointed, but I’m happy that I did this recovery really fast,” she said. “My physiotherapist really helped me a lot. We did very good work together, and now my leg is stronger than ever.”

Petrõkina started this season at Lombardia Trophy back in September finishing seventh. The following month she won silver at Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur. Back to back Grand Prix assignments saw her compete in Japan and Finland where her results were a disappointing tenth and seventh respectively with errors in particular in both her shorts costing her severely.

“I worked really hard in my preparation, and now I feel physically at my best,” she said. “Maybe this is the problem. Last season, something was always happening so I didn’t feel that I can do a clean skate. But now everything is okay, and maybe I want too much, and I’m thinking too much about the spots, about places. Because I know if I  skate clean, I will have medals.”

Petrõkina believes that if she can focus on putting herself in the right mindset the results will follow. At the Challenger Series event in Nice, skaters were in the unique situation of having to perform with a set of cones blocking out a small hazardous section of the rink.

“In Nice there were cones on the ice, so I know that it doesn’t matter what is happening. I still can skate clean, and it will not move me away from a good skate. I just need to work more and work, not only the physical part, but the mental part too. I think that if I can do this, I will be much stronger next time.”

Petrõkina collected a third Estonian national title last month and was subsequently named to represent her country at Europeans for the third time, two of which have been held in Tallinn. Last time in 2022 she was the highest placed Estonian woman placing seventh.

“It was my first Europeans,” she recalled. “The short programme was not good because I still had bad feelings after the Junior Worlds (in 2020), which I went to sick and was ill after for a very long time. But in the free programme, I did my best, and for me at that moment, it was a very good result.”

Due to prior selection criteria, her performance was not enough for her to be awarded a ticket to the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. However, Petrõkina is philosophical about not being chosen three years ago and is convinced her time is to come.

“I was not ready for it because I was a child,” she said. “I think my Olympic Games will be next year. Now I am ready. Just one thing I need to skate my short programme clean.”

Figure skating in Estonia has seen increasing success over the last few years with Petrõkina’s compatriot Aleksandr Selevko picking up silver at last year’s European Championships. There is also fierce domestic competition within her category and Petrõkina knows she cannot afford to rest on her laurels.

“In another way it helps because if no one is behind you, if we don’t have competition, you would always think, ‘I will go, even if I cannot skate clean.’ It helps actually each other because it gives you discipline. It’s feeling that you are not the only star here, so you need to work hard to have this chance to go there.”

For now, Petrõkina is going to make the most of having another opportunity to compete at home in front of family, friends and the Estonian public this week.

“I am really happy that Euros will be in Tallinn, because even though I really love Finnish audience and the Japanese audience, the Estonian audience will be even louder for me. When there’s more people I know, I feel at home, and it helps me. I really love to skate in the Tondiraba Arena.

“Of course, I have some small goals, but it will keep them to myself. I hope that I will do them and after I will tell what my goals were. Of course, the goal is always to skate clean, but we are not machines. I will just do my work and enjoy it.”