Estonian skaters Niina Petrõkina and Nataly Langerbaur are through to the free skate at the ongoing ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Prague.
Langerbaur set a PB in her performance on Wednesday.

The final major championship of the long season begins at Prague's O2 Arena. Petrõkina is reigning and double European champion after successfully defending her title in Sheffield, England in January. She finished second in the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, her debut at that level, in February. Petrõkina, 21, was competing in the penultimate cohort a little before 4.30 p.m. Wednesday.

"At the end of the season, the body starts to feel it. Everything begins to ache a little. But that's normal," Petrõkina told ERR ahead of the World Championships. "I changed a few movements in the free skate. I watched all the videos and thought there were some parts I really didn't like. Now, with the final competition coming up, I want to show a beautiful program. Small details. I don't even know if anyone notices them, but I do. That's the most important thing."

Langerbaur, also 21, meanwhile made her World Championship debut in Montreal two years ago, took to the ice ninth, as the second-to-last skater in the second warm-up group. Last month she won the Volvo Open in Riga, and finished second at the Tallink Hotels Cup at home. She placed 19th in Sheffield in January, where she also set her short program personal best of 56.21 points.

"I definitely have more experience from major competitions now and I'm really looking forward to this event. It's difficult to set a specific result or placement. Above all, I want to give my maximum and perform my programs the way I can. If that works out, I'll be satisfied with the result," Langerbaur said pre-competition.

Japan's Kaori Sakamoto, who narrowly missed Olympic gold and already has three world titles to her name, was favorite going into the competition, which will be her last at that level. Reigning world champion and Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu of the United States is not competing in the Czech Republic.

On the day, Langerbaur scored 56.56 points in the short program, marking a PB and securing a place in the free skate to be held on Friday evening. Her previous top score in ISU competitions was 56.21 points, achieved in Sheffield. She placed 21st overall.

Later on, Petrõkina earned a solid 67.29 points for her short program, placing 11th.

The toll of the long season started to show, however. "I'm not very happy with today's skate, because I know how I can actually perform," Petrõkina told the Estonian Skating Union afterwards. "The final competition of the season is always difficult, and I felt today how tough it was. I'm glad I completed all the elements, but the jump combination didn't work out as well as it could have. Still, I fought until the end, just like my coach told me to do."

"In the first jump of the combination, she didn't land it well, and there wasn't enough speed left for the second jump, which led to the mistake," coach Svetlana Varnavskaja analyzed. "But it's good that she still completed it—much worse would be a fall or not attempting it at all. Overall, Niina still did well, considering the long season and the fatigue from the Olympics."

According to figure skating expert Liina-Grete Lilender, signs of fatigue were visible. "My impression was that she really wanted to achieve a very good result, she was emotionally ready, but it was visible that she was physically tired," Lilender told Vikerraadio.

"She has a long season behind her, and the Olympic competition has left its mark. Usually there aren't three major championships in one season, so in that sense she did extremely well. The emotion was right, but the fatigue showed," Lilender concluded.

Langerbaur meanwhile said she felt more nervous before the start than expected: "Probably strong training helped—I was able to trust myself and perform everything cleanly, just as planned. I'm very satisfied." Competing at her second World Championships, Langerbaur described the atmosphere in Prague as excellent: "The atmosphere was simply amazing—so many spectators for the women's short program, it was very powerful!"

Of Langerbaur's performance, Lilender said: "Nataly did everything she could at her level; she showed her abilities at the right time."

Sakamoto lies in first place with 79.31 points. Last year's World Championship bronze medalist Mone Chiba improved her personal best to 78.45 points and sits second, followed by Americans Amber Glenn (72.65) and Isabeau Levito (72.16).

The free skate in Prague takes place Friday.

In the men's short program event, Aleksandr Selevko is in action for Estonia after 2 p.m. Thursday.

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