TALLINN, Estonia — Niina Petrokina suffered a fall during a critical moment of her routine but managed to bounce back and deliver a stunning performance that secured her the gold medal at the European figure skating championships on Friday. The mishap occurred during a transition between jumps and could have easily derailed her title hopes; however, she recovered to execute a program that was nearly flawless. This victory was particularly significant as it came amidst a somber atmosphere resulting from the tragic incident earlier this week, which claimed the lives of several skaters, coaches, and their families in a mid-air collision near Washington, D.C.
Petrokina’s achievement marked a historic moment for Estonia, a nation that had yet to secure a major figure skating title until now. Prior to this championship, her most notable accomplishment was winning a bronze medal at Skate America over a year ago. With this victory, she will head to the world championships in Boston in March as a dark horse for a medal.
As she performed to the score from the film “Dune,” the energy from the crowd swelled with each successful jump she completed. Following her routine, Petrokina knelt on the ice, acknowledging the supportive audience before awaiting the performance of the final competitor, Anastasiia Gubanova, who led after the short program. When her win was confirmed, Petrokina was visibly shocked, shaking her head in disbelief at the result.
Expressing her emotions, Petrokina said she felt “really, really big happiness” and thanked the audience for their support. “Thank you to everyone who came here and supported me and all the skaters. We did a significant job today,” she remarked. When asked when she realized she could potentially win, she replied with a playful smile, “After falling.”
In the ladies’ event, Georgian skater Gubanova, who was the reigning European champion, earned the silver medal with a score of 198.61 for the second consecutive year, while Belgium’s Nina Pinzarrone claimed bronze with 191.44 points. Last year’s champion, Loena Hendrickx, was absent from the competition due to injury.
In earlier events, Italian ice dance duo Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri positioned themselves strongly toward a third consecutive title, scoring 84.23 points in their rhythm dance set to diverse music, including tracks by Stevie Wonder. They pulled ahead by almost 1.5 points over second-place competitors Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud from France. Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were third at 81.57 points, facing some synchronization issues during their opening twizzle segment.
The European championships kicked off on Wednesday and continue to unfold against a backdrop of mourning due to the recent plane crash that took the lives of promising young skaters, their coaches, and accompanying family members as they were returning from a national development camp in the U.S. In response to this tragedy, Jae Youl Kim, president of the International Skating Union, announced there would be plans to honor those who lost their lives during the upcoming world championships in Boston.
