Estonian Niina Petrõkina crowned European figure skating champ in Tallinn

20-year-old Niina Petrõkina delivered a showstopping program in the women's free skate finals at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in her hometown of Tallinn on Friday, clinching the gold and making history as the first Estonian to win the European title.
The second-to-last skater on the ice in the women's free skate finals on Friday night, Petrõkina successfully executed a double axle and a triple toe loop at the start of her free skate program, followed by a triple Lutz and a triple loop.
She then unexpectedly fell, but quickly recovered to land a flawless triple flip, followed by two more clean combinations, before finishing with a clean double axel. In all, the Estonian figure skater executed seven triple jumps.
An emotional Petrõkina fell to her knees on the ice at the end of her program, knowing she had secured a championship medal.
The Estonian's free skate earned her 139.24 points, improving her previous free skate personal best by nearly ten points on home ice.
Overall, Petrõkina scored 2018.18 points, surpassing her previous personal best, set in October 2023, of 194.55 by more than 13 points.
A moment that goes down in history!
— ISU Figure Skating (@ISU_Figure) January 31, 2025
Niina Petrokina takes home the #EuroFigure title on home ice! #FigureSkating pic.twitter.com/WGzNobxOu0
Her score also marks a new Estonian record, surpassing Eva-Lotta Kiibus' previous national record, set in October 2021, of 202.04 points.
"I screamed so much that my throat hurts!" Petrõkina told ERR in her first comments following her free skate program Friday night.
"I don't know what to say!" she admitted. "This is just an incredible job that we did together with the national team and my team. I want to thank everyone who supported me — my parents, my coaches."
Representing Georgia, Anastasiia Gubanova, who had been in the lead following the short program, earned 129.62 points for her free skate program, taking silver with a final overall score of 198.61 points.
Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone claimed bronze with a final overall score of 191.44.

Petrõkina had competed on home ice before, at the 2020 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships, but placed 33rd overall with a weak performance, Olympics.com reported Friday.
She was shortly thereafter diagnosed with a rare blood disease and told to stop skating for two to three years, but returned to the ice in 2021, and even took bronze at Skate America in 2023.
Olympics.com described the Estonian skater's triumph on Friday as a "fairytale comeback on home ice."
Even Estonian President Alar Karis called Petrõkina to personally congratulate her on her record-setting victory.
"Of course I'd waited for this moment," Petrõkina told ERR's Aet Suvari about her win. "And I'd thought about when I'd be up on that pedestal and start singing our national anthem — but I was so emotional that I couldn't even sing right away! Because this moment came so fast, and — I didn't even actually get the chance to enjoy it. I think I'll start enjoying it later, when I see the photos and video."
Congratulations, Niina Petrõkina! European Champion on home ice – a remarkable achievement that makes all of #Estonia proud. I called to congratulate her – an outstanding performance & a historic moment for our sport! #EuroFigure #NiinaPetrokina pic.twitter.com/v6a6cGBHWy
— Alar Karis (@AlarKaris) January 31, 2025
Asked whether she was thinking while skating about how she was landing one jump after another or she would already be thinking ahead to the next element, Petrõkina said that she did what she does during practices.
"Right now I tried to just switch off mentally and just do my job," the Estonian skater described, adding that the emotions hit her later.
'Everything happened so fast'
"I actually didn't have as much strength as I usually do, and I just tried to hang onto that through the end so I wouldn't fall again!" Petrõkina continued. "And then in my final pose I just started screaming. I didn't even want to — it just came out. And then I understood I'd be getting a medal. But I didn't know which one yet."
She emphasized again how quickly everything had happened for her.
"I only just woke up this morning — and now I'm standing here with a medal already," the Estonian figure skater marveled. "This was my dream, and — I don't know, everything happened so fast!"
Asked if she really only realized she'd won the gold once the scores went up on the screen, Petrõkina confirmed that she didn't know until then.
"I just knew that I'd earned a lot of points in the free skate," she recalled. "I didn't even look at the number. And then I just sat there, and I was like — I was completely blank, and I don't actually remember what happened. It's only just now starting to sink in somehow."

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Editor: ERR Sport, Aili Vahtla