“I enjoyed it fully, but I still controlled my body, because I know myself – I know I can fall anywhere.” Niina Petrokina on her free skate at the Olympics
Niina Petrokina delivered two beautiful programs in her Olympic debut at the Milano Cortina Games, earning seventh place with a total score of 210.82 points.
original source: sport.err.ee dd. 20th February 2026 by Maarja Varv
Estonian figure skater Niina Petrokina finished seventh in her Olympic debut at the Milano Cortina Games, expressing happiness with her performances and determination to aim even higher. Here’s a translation of her comments posted on ERR.
“I’m very happy that I was able to perform all my elements as planned! This time, I can say that I truly felt I was at the Olympics and really enjoyed my skate; during the last three elements, I felt everything around me,” Petrokina told ERR after her free skate, which scored 141.19 points.
“[Choreographer] Alina [Boyko] wrote to me, saying, ‘Control your body, control your movements and the music, but at the end, when it’s choreography time, you can really enjoy it.’ I enjoyed it fully, but I still controlled my body, because I know myself – I know I can fall anywhere,” Petrokina laughed. “At the end, I really enjoyed it and I’m very excited that it worked out.”
“The hardest part was maintaining focus from start to finish. You think: only four minutes, but it’s actually quite tough. I managed it,” Petrokina confirmed.
Petrokina performed the same programs a month ago at the European Championships in Sheffield, where she set a new Estonian record with 216.14 points. Thus, her Olympic performance was scored 5.32 points lower. “They gave a few points less than at the Europeans, but it’s okay, we’ll keep working, check the protocols, and see where I lost points. I already know where I lost points in the short program; now we’ll look at the free skate and hope to do even better at Worlds,” Petrokina said.
Niina Petrokina is the seventh-place woman at the Olympic Games. How does that sound? “Very good! But actually, my ambitions are very high – I want to achieve a higher placement, but for that, I need to work harder. We’ll see!”
Petrokina’s coach, Svetlana Varnavskaja, did not wish to comment on the judges’ scoring. “I won’t comment on that; we did our job very well. What the judges decide… it is what it is. They give the scores they give.”
How does Varnavskaja sum up her student’s Olympic debut? “We need a couple more days to rest, then maybe something will come to mind… right now, everything is so emotional, I don’t even know what to say. Before the Olympics, we thought we wanted to be somewhere near the top. After the short program, we hoped to move up a few more places.”
Related topics: Niina Petrokina, Olympic Games
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