Niina Petrõkina takes the lead at the European Figure Skating Championships
Estonian skater Niina Petrõkina took the lead at the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, after the women's short program.
Nataly Langerbaur is also through to Friday's free skate.
Petrõkina is reigning European champion and keen to defend her title, despite recovering from a recent achilles tendon operation.
"I feel very good. Everything went according to plan, just as we had trained, and I was also able to enjoy performing the program on the European Championship ice," she commented herself.
Of other Estonian skaters, Kristina Lisovskaja's program did not quite go as desired and she earned 49.62 points. Lisovskaja's personal best of 57.87 points dates back to 2022, but this season she has come quite close to it as well (57.36).
"The program could have been cleaner, it didn't go the way I wanted," the skater admitted. "I can't say why it went the way it did, I was a bit nervous," she said after the event.
First up on Wednesday at the European Figure Skating Championships from Sheffield was the pairs short program, which started at 4.50 p.m. (Estonian time).
Reigning European champions and 2025 World Championship silver medalists Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany are favorites for the title. Their personal best in the short program is 77.61 points, which they set last September.
Georgian pair Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava are also sure to be in contention for a medal in Sheffield. The two-time junior world champions won bronze medals at last year's European Championships in Tallinn.
Looking for a strong performance too, will be two-time European medalists Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini of Italy.
A total of 17 pairs competed on Wednesday, with the best 16 advancing to Thursday's free skate program in South Yorkshire.
The women's short program got underway at 8.30 p.m. (Estonian time) and was carried live by ETV+.
In addition to Petrõkina and Lisovskaja, Nataly Langerbaur was also in action for Estonia.
Petrõkina was awarded 68.94 points in the short program last year to become European champion – a score which remains her personal best. Langerbaur's record is 56.00 points and Lisovskaja's is 57.87 points.
The level of competition at this year's European Championships is high, with all those who finished in the top ten at last year's event in Tallinn also competing in the women's event in Sheffield. Added to the mix is 2023-24 European champion Loena Hendrickx of Belgium, who returns to the event after a year's break.
Of the Estonian trio, Lisovskaja was first to take to the ice on Wednesday evening, competing in the third group, at 8.50 p.m. Estonian time. Langerbaur competed in the fourth group from 9.30 p.m., while Petrõkina was in the last group up, starting at 11.51 p.m. Estonian time, or a bit before 10 p.m. in the U.K.
Of the skaters involved in the short program, 24 were to qualify for Friday evening's free skate.
On the night, Petrõkina's program triumphed. She also landed the more difficult elements, namely the combination of a triple lutz and triple toe loop, as well as another triple flip. The Estonian also executed these jumps off her recently operated right leg. All of this earned her 70.61 points, marking a PB. Last year when the European Championships were held in her hometown, Tallinn, her score was 68.94.
"I was so calm. I was nervous in the warm-up, but then I tried to do as my coach told me: to calm down," Petrõkina said after the performance. "And when I went out to skate, I controlled every movement. Exactly like we had worked with the choreographer."
"The most difficult point was after I had done all the jumps, then going into the step sequence, making sure there would be no stumbling. But I managed it, we did a lot of training and work in the last week in a short time before the European Championships."
She was followed by Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone (64.97 points), Italians Anna Pezzetta (64.85) and Lara Naki Gutmann (63.75), then by Loena Hendrickx (63.34), also from Belgium. One of the main pre-event favorites, Anastasiia Gubanova (Georgia), took a fall on her triple lutz and also exceeded the time limit, finishing 11th with 56.17 points.
Langerbaur took 56.21 points for her performance, which also marks a PB. Up to now, her best score this season had been 53.94. This brought her into 10th place, meaning she goes through, though Lisovskaja finished 26th and so did not advance to the free skate, which takes place Friday.
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Editor: ERR Sport, Michael Cole, Andrew Whyte
