Niina Petrokina: “I just want to finish the season on a good note. As always. Do everything I can. As I saw at the Olympics, no matter how well you skate, the judges will score as they do.”
Estonian figure skater Niina Petrokina discusses her preparation, physical condition, and mindset ahead of the World Championships, reflecting on the challenges of the season and her goals for the final competition.
original source: sport.err.ee dd. 22d March 2026 by Anu Saarits
Estonian figure skater Niina Petrokina is preparing for the upcoming World Championships, which will also mark the end of the season. After a successful European Championships and Olympics, she says in an interview with ERR that she needs to pull herself together one more time. Here’s a translation of her comments posted on ERR.
“Q: What kind of shape are you in?
Niina Petrokina: I’m in good shape, as always. It’s just that now I have to control myself more, because at the end of the season, the body starts to feel it. Everything starts to ache a little. But that’s normal. That’s why the last competitions are the hardest. Now I realize that after the Olympics, my energy just disappeared. It was gone. At first, you think the Olympics are just another competition, but for some reason, they take more energy out of you.
Q: How have you regained your sharpness? You also wanted to have more speed. In today’s practice, it seemed like you had more speed.
Niina Petrokina: Really? That’s good! I worked with Alina and Svetlana [choreographer Alina Boyko and coach Svetlana Varnavskaja – ERR]. From the first day I came back, we tried to make every step a little stronger. At first, it was hard – the jumps didn’t come out with that speed, because I started flying the wrong way. Right now, I’m not taking too much speed, because if I start flying, I can’t control all the jumps and spins. So it’s moderate, but a bit more than before.
Q: You can really see it in the spins.
Niina Petrokina: Yes, I worked on the spins too. I just couldn’t work on the layback spin because my back was bothering me a bit. I went to the chiropractor, got everything put back in place, and now it’s much better.
Q: Does your back still bother you, or is it okay?
Niina Petrokina: It always bothers me. I’m the kind of person who can’t sit or stand in one place for long. I can only lie down or train! Then it doesn’t hurt, but if I just sit with a straight back, it’s pretty painful.
Q: You still have to gather your last reserves of strength and have a good competition.
Niina Petrokina: Exactly!
Q: How has your leg allowed you to train?
Niina Petrokina: During the Olympics, everything was fine, I didn’t feel anything. Now – as I said – it’s the end of the season, so sometimes it starts to hurt. If I do too many jumps, I feel like I need to take a break. Then the next day, I can’t jump at all.
Q:You’ve tried to get back in shape as your body allows and add small nuances. Is that the whole package?
Niina Petrokina: Yes, I also changed some movements in my free program. I watched all the videos and thought there were some parts I didn’t really like. Now, with the last competition coming up, I want to show a beautiful program, look back at it, and think it was a good idea to change those moves. Small details. I don’t even know if anyone will notice, but I notice. That’s the most important thing!
Q: What else is important to you? What do you still want to prove in this last competition?
Niina Petrokina: I just want to finish the season on a good note. As always. Do everything I can. As I saw at the Olympics, no matter how well you skate, the judges will score as they do.
Q: If you compare your condition to Europeans and the Olympics, how is it? Is it comparable?
Niina Petrokina: I can’t say it’s more certain, because you never know what might happen.
Q: I mean your overall physical condition, confidence, training, consistency, new things you’ve solidified.
Niina Petrokina: I’ve been doing the same program all season. There were different plans at first, but because of an injury, the plans changed, and maybe we’ll push them to next season. For now, I’m doing what I can and what I know. Nothing is difficult. I just have to pull myself together again and show a good performance.
Q: Have you already started thinking about next season?
Niina Petrokina: I’m slowly choosing music for next season. Again, as always, I want to do something interesting. Something new that no one has used yet. Then I think about where we’ll have training camps, different schedules. And of course – the most important thing -I’m going on vacation in a month! I really, really want to go somewhere warm.”
Coach Svetlana Varnavskaja before the last performance of the season:
“We want to show the same level at Worlds as at the Olympics. The goal was to maintain that form. I hope she’s in good shape now. We practice every day, she does all the elements. I can say the quality has improved. I hope she shows her best at the competition. We had a small goal to increase the speed in the program, and I hope she can show that this time. It’s very hard to stay focused all season – it’s really tough. Now it’s the last competition, we have to endure. Just a little more to go, and I hope she can show a beautiful performance.”
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