Two-time European champion Niina Petrokina in her own words: “Positive, optimistic, unstoppable”

Heading to Sheffield, for this year’s edition of the Europeans, we knew we wanted to talk to Niina Petrokina.

The Estonian that ran away with our attention in her first senior season (2021/2022), through her power, energy, enthusiasm, charisma – a style of skating that kept on building the following years, relying on strong technique but also obvious performing qualities, to the point when stars aligned, the work paid off, and Niina Petrokina became the European champion in 2025, in Tallinn, on home ice.

And she wanted to do it again, this January, in Sheffield, she wanted a repeat: “I really wanted to fight, I really wanted to show my programs and my jumps!”

Above all, she wanted to leave behind a long series of months filled with pain, uncertainty, topped by a surgery on her right foot, in October 2025.

It goes without saying: with so little time to recover and prepare for the rest of the season – only two months and a half before 2026 Europeans, can you believe it? –, few credited Niina with defending her crown.

But, hey, don’t ever underestimate the fighter that Niina Petrokina is.

She gave it all in Sheffield, like she always does, and won her second European title in the process – she is now the undisputed queen of Europe – and there you have us talk at length, as wished, as planned, the morning after Niina’s win, on January 17th.

And the press conference room seemed the most appropriate place for this interview to happen, where Niina has savoured her victories after the short, after the free, and she’s now talking about them in the same space.

And we like Niina Petrokina, we like our two-time European champion.

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And she is so quiet, almost discreet while talking, so calm and so composed (and she only had three hours of sleep after her victory the night before; “I’m sooo tired”, she smiles), and she’s so powerful and so determined on the ice.

“Unstoppable”, the word she’s using to describe herself – “unstoppable”, the word we’re using.

And that word is not a metaphor, believe us, believe her, and Niina used every single challenge encountered as an opportunity to grow. And they were many, even a life-threatening illness six years ago.

Amidst the pandemic, in 2020, Niina spent five months in a hospital in Tallinn after being diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a rare condition where the body stopped producing enough blood cells. She needed a bone marrow transplant, but no donor was to be found, so she did immunosuppression therapy instead.

Every other health issue that followed – breaking her left fibula in practice, in December 2023; having surgery on her Achilles tendon in October 2025 after months of uncertainty and pain – felt small compared to this one, but Niina Petrokina worked through them all and, layer after layer, she became the Niina we now know.

Even in Sheffield, for these Europeans: she had regained her Lutz and her Flip just two weeks before travelling to UK and had to rely so much on her mental strength, her will, her muscle memory to carry her through.

No doubt, she is unstoppable.

And she had that word imprinted on a clothing line she’d been the inspiration for – the word, like a surprise, reveals itself when we ask Niina for a photo – and she is proudly wearing it, like a medal itself.

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Interview by Florentina Tone / Sheffield

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Florentina Tone: Niina, you chose the word “unstoppable” to describe yourself at this year’s Europeans, and you looked unstoppable here, in Sheffield, but also in Tallinn, last year – and this may be the best starting point of your talk, since you overcame so many challenges in your life and career.

So lead me into choosing this word for you, it almost feel like your trademark already…

Niina Petrokina [with a big smile that she’ll be wearing all throughout our talk]: Unstoppable was born last year at the European Championships in Tallinn. After the competition, my choreographer made some video of myself with this music, Sia’s “Unstoppable” – and, after that, I always remembered the word.

And this music helps me to be back, always: if I have some hard times, I just need to remember for myself that I’m unstoppable.

Two years ago, so before Tallinn, I also thought that maybe it would be a good idea to collaborate with a brand – and after I won my first European Championships, I came back to this idea again: I thought it would be easier to do it now.

And we have a new brand on our Estonian market, AME spot, and I really love it because they do everything with their hands, materials of really good quality, so soft and everything – and now I have this costume [the sports outfit that Niina is wearing at our encounter, in burgundy].

And we will have some more colors, and also make a summer collection, I think. It will take time, but we will work on it.

[Niina speaks quietly, softly, really taking the time to explain everything.

And I’m struck with the contrast of it: on the ice, Niina Petrokina is explosive, and during our conversation, she seems so quiet and discreet – and we’ll get there too, towards the end of the interview.]

IT ALL STARTED IN TALLINN, AT HOME EUROPEANS. A YEAR TO REMEMBER FOR SO MANY REASONS

Niina, I want us to talk about the entire year that led to your second European title – a year that included some of the best times of your career, winning the gold in Tallinn, and once again, in Sheffield, last night, but also some difficult ones, leading to the surgery on your Achilles tendon last October.

Looking back at last year’s Europeans, what’s your strongest memory you have, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?

I just remember that the first half of the season went so wrong – I was so ready physically, but not mentally.

So leading to 2025 European Championships, I worked really hard for my mental part. And, in my own country, in front of my crowd of supporters in Estonia, I could really take my power and my energy from them, and did everything that I could.

I felt their support, I heard them screaming for me… And I always say that I really like to skate in such atmosphere, when everyone is cheering for me.

They give you wings, in a way…

Yes, wings and power!

Because some people are just terrified to go out there…

I know!

When they enter an arena, they feel small, but you kind of grow once you’re in the middle of the ice…

[laughing:] But I’m a lion for this!

And I really love to show myself, and be on the podium, and everything – so for me it’s like a party [laughing still], and I really enjoy this moment.

What happened after winning the European crown on home ice in 2025? How was it? I might have read that you received a phone call from the president and so on – how was the next week, maybe?

It was so hard!

I mean, I was ready to skate my programs and, maybe, go for the win. But to actually win, that was a little bit shocking for me, because my last competition was not so good, so I was like: What the f….? [laughing heartily]

And, after that, I wasn’t really ready for the hype.

Too many interviews, everyone wanted me, and I was like: Oh my God, I need to prepare for the next competition!

Which was 2025 Worlds in Boston? Or Road to 26 Trophy before that, if I remember it right…

Yes, but I did too much training before that.

Not too much training as a whole, but I did too much [triple] Lutz, and I tried to jump it much higher, maybe for preparing the quad Lutz, or I don’t know why I did it [smiling]. But then this injury started.

So this injury on your right foot, what eventually proved to be the Achilles tendon hurting, that’s when it started?

Yes, in February last year, after Europeans.

And did you actually need to go to Milano for Road to 26 Trophy?

We just wanted to go, it was good opportunity to be there.

But the Trophy in Milano and the Worlds [in Boston], I competed with a really big pain. No painkillers, no injections helped me, and it was really hard.

And you competed still…

Yes, I skated because I was in a good shape from the trainings before Europeans, and I had that shape until the end of the season.

The muscle memory and everything.

Yes, and I still have it, because I do so much training, that’s my life, actually.

And the pain continued during off-season, during training, and especially when doing the Lutz and the Flip?

When doing everything. It was painful to just skate, to do some pushes, the landings, everything was really painful.

But when I stepped on the floor, and I walked with my normal shoes, everything was okay.

At first, I thought that maybe it was some problem with my skate, doctors couldn’t find what it was, we tried everything, and they always said that I needed to have a rest – but then I had a rest, I came back and did one training, and it started again.

I remember, I took a break for one week, for two weeks, for three weeks, then I had some vacation, then one week I did nothing, just maybe some exercises for my leg, and after that I came back, and I had some camp in Finland, I came there, I did one training, and after that it was painful to even walk.

And I called my doctors and I was like: Can we do some MRI?

We hadn’t done it before, they gave me this painkiller injection, but it didn’t help me, it just did the problem much bigger.

Then we did the MRI, they saw a problem – but now I can say it was not the actual problem, but maybe something that I had from when I was younger… We have in our bodies so many things that are strange [smiling]…

Yes, I mean, the sports body, you may think that it’s healthy.

Yeah, if you do a full MRI of our body, you would find so many problems there…

And when did you finally realize what the problem was?

For the summer, we did some plasma injections, I did it three times, and I waited after that, and maybe it was better, but then I started to do more trainings, more jumps, and I still couldn’t jump from my right leg, so I did only Axel, Salchow and Toe loop.

And I travelled for my first competition of the season, Nepela Trophy [end of September 2025] and there it was really painful too, I didn’t do well.

After that, my mother wrote to this clinic in Munchen – we went there and, in one day, they found the problem, they found the solution, and three or four days after that, I had my surgery.

In October 2025?

Yes, October 8th.

You have that very clear.

[smiling] I just watched on my phone what time it was.

“I REALLY WANTED TO FIGHT”. THE RIGHT LEG NOW? “SHE’S GOOD, SHE’S GOOD”

From what I understood talking to other skaters, a surgery is one thing, it happens quite fast, but then the recovery is a long and difficult process…

Yes, at first, we thought the recovery will happen faster, like in two or three weeks, and then I could start jumping again. But it actually took like two months, two months and a half – and the Lutz and Flip, I only started jumping two weeks before Europeans.

This is insane, as Mark Hanretty put it while greeting you at the boards after your short program here in Sheffield. And it is, it is!, quite unbelievable, actually.

I know, but our muscles remember everything.

And I think this injury helped me to be strong in this competition, because I really wanted to fight, I really wanted to show my programs and my jumps!

[smiling to the ears] I’m still shocked about my situation as well, like how fast this happened, the surgery, the recovery, and now I’m here.

But during these months of recovery, you…

I didn’t stop training.

On my Instagram there’s this reel where you can see parts of the recovery: I skate on one leg, so I train this leg, and then the other leg… I did some exercises on one leg on the ice, then I came to the board, and did some seated exercises with my right leg.

I did some really good work, and I really want to thank my physiotherapists, my doctors…

During this time, I also changed my sports doctor, because she will go to the Olympics too, so I wanted to be more in connection, and she really wanted to help me, she did everything for that: she came to trainings, she watched how I skated, what we could do, and we did a really good job.

So I only restarted to jump the Lutz and the Flip two weeks before Europeans, that’s true, but all this time I did some preparation exercises for that, we didn’t start from nothing.

I actually started from off-ice, then I started to do singles, then doubles, I did doubles for maybe two weeks, and after that I just tried to do triples.

But to have such a comeback, in such a short amount of time, and not just that, but win your second European crown in the process, that’s not an easy feet!

I mean, the short is the short, you only have three jumping passes, but then the free skate is a different “beast”, and you owned it completely. How does one do that, really?

[Niina’s answer comes fast:] To me the short program is always harder.

But, this time, it was not as hard, because we worked so much on it – much more than the free skate, because the free skate is always easier for me… Also, this time, I was a little more nervous in the free skate, and not because of the pressure, but because I wanted to show the work we did.

This time, I knew that I could do two jumps from the right leg in the short program [she pats her leg], but in free skate there is much more from the right leg, and I didn’t know how my leg would be.

But the leg is hanging on, I mean, no pain.

[smiling:] She’s good, she’s good [patting her right leg again].

And so the leg is a she.

Yes.

I like that about the leg.

We did a really good work with her [laughing].

I always speak with her after competitions: I’m really grateful that you did it! – and the left one is good too.

“I NEED TO FEEL THE MUSIC, I NEED TO FEEL HOW TO SHOW IT”

Niina, tell me a bit about your programs this season. You decided to keep your Dune free skate, and you changed the short – but the idea with all your programs is that they always paint you this fierce image of yourself, they always highlight this powerful side of you…

So what I want to ask, is that something you want, is that what your choreographer, Mark Pillay, suggests?

About the free skate, we knew that we will keep this one, because it’s like the winner’s program and also my favorite.

And it is also so hard, but, at the same time, it’s so easy for me: after the jump, I always have some sequence, and every element is from another element, so I don’t have resting breaks…

So when I went to work with Mark I thought that maybe we will change something, or some music parts.

In the free?

Yes.

Like Olivia and Tim did with Dune.

Yes, something to feel new in a way, but Mark watched my free skate, and he was like: I don’t want to change anything. It’s so good, it’s so amazing. [Niina is smiling again]

We only changed some small part in the choreo sequence, because I didn’t really like this slide on my knee, because my knee always hurts.

HER STYLE? NIINA’S ANSWER COMES FAST: “POWERFUL!”

Niina: But for the short program, it was such a hard decision!

At first, we wanted to skate with another music – not me, my coaches.

But who chooses the music, in general?

All of us, together. But my opinion is the most…

…valued?

Yes, because I need to feel the music, I need to feel how to show it, because if I don’t feel it, nothing will come, no energy, no nothing.

And this music, what my coaches suggested at first, I didn’t really like it.

But you worked on it?

No, we didn’t.

Just chose the music?

Yes, and I sent it to Mark, and he thought about this music too long – and then he wrote me the night before I had to fly to him to work on the short program.

And he was like: I don’t want to put the program with this music, we need to choose something else.

And I was like: Oh my God, what will I do? Like: I had the flight next day in the morning! And I was like: Okay, shiiiit… [laughing]

Did you have other options?

Mark sent me many ideas before, and I listened to all of them one more time, and I chose this one, because it was a little bit interesting.

It is, it is, and it’s a very interesting concept.

But first I was like: I don’t really like this… Not the program, but it’s so hard for me, because it’s a tango, and every movement is a little bit…

Sharp…

Sharp, and it’s not my style, the style I did before, and it’s always hard to skate a new style in such an important season.

But the week before Europeans, the week before coming here, we worked so much, so much on this program, that now I feel like it’s mine.

But when do you usually work on the new programs? And how do you usually work with Mark?

We worked with Mark in June, or July [2025], something like that, from June till July, and after that I continued to work on it at home, we changed some parts because something was not really comfortable for me, and we always changed jumps, so it was a long process – and only this week before Europeans we did all day, every day, I did the same program over and over again.

[Choreography-wise] sometimes we did video calls with Mark, but it was more in the summer. This time, I worked with my choreographer Alina [Boyko].

She worked with me from Saturday till next Sunday, and on Monday I had the flight to Sheffield, so we worked every single day! [smiling]

It was really hard, because she’s really…

…demanding?

[smiling] Yeah!

Because you mentioned that tango is not really your style, but you worked on it and it now became yours, which would you say your style is?

Powerful.

Powerful style, and not the really sharp movements, but strong movements.

And I just really want to feel the music and program, I need to understand what I want to show audience and judges. Like, I need to have some story.

From all the programs that you skated so far, you said that maybe Dune is your favorite, or…?

Dune is my favorite because I saw the movie and… But I like all my programs. [laughing:] But not all my dresses! We always have a problem with my dresses – but, this time, we did a really hard work and we chose the best ones!

I had so many options of what kind of dress we want, some dress we did with Mathieu [Carron] from Canada, and some dress we did in Estonia, and then we chose.

What about the money needed, I know they can be quite expensive…

Yeah, but my federation always helps me, and the Olympic Committee, and everyone is helping me. So I have money for my dresses [laughing].

“THE FIRST FIVE YEARS MAYBE, I REALLY DIDN’T LIKE TO SKATE”

I want to know more about the young Niina Petrokina. And maybe you answered these questions many times before, but when did you start skating, and why? Who took you to the rink, who or what was the inspiration for it?

I stepped on the ice when I was 3 years old, but it was not training, I just went with my parents – that’s what they told me, I don’t really remember… [laughing]

I have some pictures from my childhood, not quality pictures, but… And then I started, I went to the skating school at 4, my mom decided it would be good for me.

She’s a figure skating fan?

A fan she was, but she always thought that she would never give me to figure skating because she has some classmate who always had some problems, and she was like: Never my daughter will be in figure skating! [laughing]

But I had some problems with my health, my nose, my ears, and I just needed to recover – so that’s why she gave me to figure skating.

The first five years maybe, I really didn’t like to skate, and I always wanted to finish.

I don’t know, I just wanted to run with boys, I wanted to be a regular child. And I was like: I will finish, I don’t want to skate anymore. My mom even gave me the flowers to bring to the coach.

This flower tradition, I hear that a lot when one wants to hang up their skates, or change the coach, or…

Yeah, everyone does that, I don’t know why, but it’s normal.

So I went to the coach, and then she said something to me, I don’t know what, but after that, my mother was like: Where is my daughter? She came to the ice rink and saw me in training.

And after that, I never wanted to stop my career.

How old were you back then?

Maybe 9 or 10, something like that. And after that, I started having some results, at 10 or 11 years old, I jumped the double Axel, and then I lost it for one year…

“MY FIRST GOAL WILL BE TO RECOVER MY TRIPLE AXEL”

What’s the first jump that you learned, you remember?

Axel, yes, Axel. After that it was Toe loop, and then Salchow, and then all others.

Do you have a favorite jump?

All jumps are my favorite because I really love to jump, but my favorite when I was young was the Axel. This time I can say that Lutz is my favorite.

I really love Lutz because it’s comfortable for me and easy.

You mentioned earlier that maybe you wanted to try for a quad Lutz…

Yeah, but I think my first goal will be to recover my triple Axel. I jumped it 2 or 3 years ago, I have some videos from training, and I want to do it again.

But I always had some problems. When I started to learn it, I broke my leg. When I started again, I had some injury, or I had some problems with my health, and everything.

“I WAS AND STILL AM A POSITIVE PERSON”

Niina, if you’re OK with that, I would ask you about your health problems as well. Because I read about some of them, and I was like Oh my God! That unknown illness that kept you in hospital for months, breaking a fibula, now surgery…

[smiling pensively:] Yeah, I have such an interesting life.

In a way, you do feel indestructible especially because you had so many problems and overcame them. Ever thought of quitting skating?

No, never.

Actually, one of my doctors said in the past when I had this illness that I needed to maybe forget about sport for 2 or 3 years. And I was like: What the f…! No! It’s unreal. I don’t want to finish my career.

Was it when you eventually got diagnosed with anemia and had immunosuppression therapy?

Yes, my body wanted to grow and change, something in the immune system changed… But I always have this positive attitude, ever since childhood: I was and still am a positive person.

And maybe for the first two days I was like: What do I need to do right now? It’s so sad. But after that I was like: I will come back, just wait a little bit.

Because I didn’t actually understand what was happening, I was too young. But my parents understood everything. One day, I remember, I heard my mom speaking with someone on the phone, she was in some corridor, and she was crying.

And it was so painful for my heart, I was like: I need to recover fast.

How old were you then?

I was 15. It was in 2020.

With the pandemic and everything…

It actually was a really helpful period for me. No one knew where I was: everyone was at home, and I was in the hospital in Tallinn. But when I came back after this therapy, people almost didn’t recognize me. Everyone remembered me like this, so tiny, so small, and when I came back I was like double, you know? But who are you? [smiling]

But it’s completely understandable – you spent months in the hospital getting treated… What kept you occupied?

I did stretching, I remember I made some drawings, some paintings, I still have some at home, I tried to do a lot of stuff with my hands…

It was hard, but my brain tried to forget every bad moment in my life, and I actually remember it now with some happiness. Because I know that every situation that you have in your life, it’s for something good.

I now feel stronger mentally and physically.

And it doesn’t matter what is happening, you can always come back. Because I know now that I can do it.

How would you describe yourself, Niina?

Unstoppable! [bursting into laughter] I don’t know other word!

Positive, optimistic, unstoppable.

“I WANT TO SAY: JUST WORK HARD”

Growing up and becoming the skater you are now, where did you take some of the inspiration, motivation needed? Was there someone in particular that you liked, you admired?

[Niina is smiling, but that’s a serious smile right there:]

To everyone who wants to have some story, some results they want to achieve, I want to say: Just work hard. But work, not just… – just work, and work.

Do what you love to do. And understand why you do it, for what.

And believe in yourself, because it’s really important. I know we have everyone around, we have family, coaches, but on the ice, there’s only you – you alone – and you need work really hard during training.

Because no one can help you when you are in a competition, only you can help yourself. So you need to prepare for that before a competition.

Do you have any specific goals on your mind when it comes to the Olympics?

[Smiling:] I just want to be alive.

I don’t want to have any injuries. I just want to do everything that I can do, like here. Just maybe more emotions. Because here, in the short program, I was full of emotions. But for the free skate, I held my emotions because I needed to do the technical part. And after that, I just didn’t have energy left.

But at the Olympics I want to show this energy with the technical part too.

The way we see it, there will be more Olympics for you ahead…

I mean, if I have health, I have everything. I want to skate until I feel I can’t skate anymore, or do the hard jumps. But I think I can skate for a few more years.

I wish all you the best – and let me take a photo of you.

Of course!

[And while heading for the chosen spot for our photo, in the same press conference room that Niina knows so well, our dialogue continues, and the recorder keeps track:]

Off the ice, you look very…

Small? [Niina is laughing heartily]

No, not small, but quiet and…

Yeah, yeah… [she is laughing still]

You usually look so fierce out there…

But when you go on the ice, you need to be strong. Because if you are like that, small and soft and…, nothing will come out of it.

***

And while Niina heads to the front of the room, to have her photo taken, I only now see the pullover she’s wearing has Unstoppable written on the back – and how appropriate it feels for this entire talk.

“I’ll go and support my brothers”, she laughs while leaving the room at the end.

The brothers are Selevko’s brothers, Aleksandr and Mihhail, in second and third place after the men’s short program in Sheffield, soon to take the ice for their free skates.

And Niina and her team will support the brothers from the stands, cheer for them, waving the flag for them – they’re all making history for the Estonian figure skating as a whole.

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In February, at 2026 Olympics, the first of her career, Niina Petrokina found resources to shine again and finished the women’s event on a much deserved 7th place, confirming her top European position.

In a celebratory post on her Instagram page, she too will be in awe with everything she did this season, a season marred by pain, by injury, by surgery – and yet again a season when she proved once more she’s a force to be reckoned with.

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