“This week I did excellent work. We had to fit into one week the same volume I did in three weeks last time, and I’m still alive. You could say things are going well.” Niina Petrokina aims to defend her European title
Niina Petrokina is in good shape based on recent training and has been able to perform all her triple jumps.
original source: sport.err.ee dd. 11th January 2026 by Anu Saartis
Defending champion Niina Petrokina is in good form ahead of the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, having regained her triple jumps after injury and aiming to defend her title with challenging programs. Here’s a translation of her comments posted on ERR.
Petrokina is used to fighting her way out of difficult situations. At a practice session in Tallinn’s Haabersti Ice Hall, she showed that all her triple jumps are now going smoothly, even from her previously operated right leg.
“Just yesterday I landed the lutz–loop combination, which I last did before the previous European Championships. I haven’t jumped it in a year. I can say my form is back,” Petrokina confirmed to ERR. “This week I did excellent work. We had to fit into one week the same volume I did in three weeks last time, and I’m still alive. You could say things are going well.”
Petrokina admits her leg still bothers her at times. “Even today, I had to sit out for a while. By the end of the week, the body is more tired, and if I do too many jumps, the leg doesn’t work and I can’t push off properly. I’m still monitoring how my leg reacts and hope that together we can manage and do great work.”
Managing the workload has been a major challenge, and coach Svetlana Varnavskaja hasn’t been able to use the same methods as before to get Petrokina into top form.
“It’s like making soup – you keep adding something and tasting it. I won’t say it’s hard, but of course, it’s not easy work; your mind is always working,” Varnavskaja said.
Local choreographer Alina Boyko is helping to refine the precision of her movements. The defending champion is full of determination, fast and dynamic, in good physical and mental shape. For two weeks, she has been able to do all her jumps.
“We have a daily routine, which already brings a lot of joy because she’s in really good shape,” Boyko said. “She’s jumping all her jumps, and we’re going to Europeans with the same program difficulty as last year, when she won gold at home. We’re not quite ready yet, but we’re moving in the right direction. We’ll try to do our best. We don’t know how it will go this time, but we’re doing everything to show our level. We’re not just going to compete—we’re going to fight.”
The difficulty of the elements in both programs is now as high as last year, when Petrokina set her record at 208 points at the European Championships. “I hope I can manage it. The only small change is in the free skate, where in the second half I’m now doing a lutz–axel–toeloop sequence instead of lutz–euler–salchow. It’s a small change that figure skaters will understand. It just gives a few more points,” she explained.
“I still want to compete at the highest level. The program difficulty I did at the Estonian Championships and Tallinn Trophy was more like plan C, not even B, because I still couldn’t jump from my right leg. Now my right leg works, works well. Sometimes it needs rest, but it works.”
Does this program plan mean Petrokina is aiming to defend her title? “Well, yes, I just don’t think about it. I know that if I do my job well, good results will follow.”
Related topics: European Championships, Niina Petrokina
Leave a Reply