Niina Petrõkina skates to highest-ever world championship finish for Estonia
Niina Petrõkina finished eighth in the women's singles event at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, making history with a personal best and an all-time Estonian best.
Earlier, Petrõkina, 20, reigning European Champion after last month's win in Tallinn, scored 65.58 points in the short program, placing 12th in a packed field.
This advanced her to Friday's free skate, where she skated after 2 a.m. Estonian time Saturday, in the penultimate cohort.
Petrõkina has secured an Olympic spot for Estonia for next year's winter games, but a top ten finish allows Estonia to send a second skater to attempt to qualify for Beijing.
While she didn't deliver as flawless a performance as she had at the Euros, she executed five clean triple jumps and scored 131.09 points.
In the combined total of both programs, she earned 196.67 points, moving up from twelfth to eighth.
This surpassed her and Estonia's previous highest finish by one place.
"I am very, very happy. I feel that I was able to handle myself, because it was a really tough season for me. I did everything to the end. It was tough, but I skated to the end. I even had some strength left in the second half of the program," Petrõkina told ERR after her performance.
"The goal has been achieved, where I achieved an Olympic spot. I am delighted with myself, because I fought to the end. It was really tough, but I was able to handle myself," she added.
Petrõkina's coach Svetlana Varnavskaja told ERR: "We could say it went better in Europe, but she was very good and pulled herself together," adding that on a scale of 1-5, he gave her a 5 minus for the performance.
Choreographer Alina Boyko said: "I'm quite satisfied as well. You could see she had to work a bit for it, but she managed beautifully."
In a surprise result, 19-year-old Alysa Liu became world champion in front of a home crowd after more than two years away from elite competition, returning to the sport last fall.
This is the US' first women's singles world title in nearly 20 years.
Kaori Sakamoto (Japan), a three-time world gold medalist, settled for silver, and her compatriot Mone Chiba took bronze, her first world championship medal.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
