Niina Petrõkina on near-perfect season: I didn't make mistakes like I used to
Skater Niina Petrõkina became the first Estonian figure skater to be crowned European champion. She achieved this before a home crowd in Tallinn back in January with 208.18 points in the women's single event.
Speaking to ETV, Petrõkina, 20, reflected on a season that also included eighth place at the World Championships in Boston last month — the highest ever finish by an Estonian competitor.
She said: "I couldn't boldly state that there has been a great leap in development right now, but there were definitely some small steps forward, as if we talk about the European Championships, I can't say I did anything particularly special in my performances, yet I was in the right place at the right time and didn't make the mistakes I used to make. I simply skated my programs cleanly."
One key to success was a new training trick, the skater added. "I started skating my programs in training as if I were in competition. Now I skate the same way in training as I do in competition. That helped me and somehow I felt more confident during competitions," Petrõkina explained.
If she had earned the same points in Boston as in the European Championships, she would have placed fifth — just 7.06 points outside the medals.
"I wasn't thinking about a specific placement or score at the Europeans. I just went to compete and tried to do what I could, and it worked out. At the worlds, thoughts had already started creeping in about what place I might get," she noted.
"When I was first asked after the worlds whether I was satisfied with eighth place, I said of course I was, but now I've started thinking I could do even better. I didn't skate any clean programs at the worlds. A World Championship medal isn't that far off. I have the potential, now I just have to train even more and I hope to show even better results next season."
As for preparations for next year's Winter Olympics in Milan, Petrõkina said: "The biggest goal is to add the triple Axel, which I will start training for again, and also, for example, I want to present a combination jump in the second half of the short program."
That training starts this week, right after the season ended.
"I took a one-week break but already tomorrow I'll gradually start training again. In June, I'm going on a one-week vacation to a warm country, but for now the training process starts over again."
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Editor: Henrik Laever, Andrew Whyte
