Niina Petrõkina

Niina Petrõkina (born 14 August 2004) is an Estonian figure skater.

She is the 2023 Skate America bronze medalist, a four-time ISU Challenger Series medalist, and a two-time Estonian national champion (2022, 2023).

Petrõkina has represented Estonia at the World Junior, European, and World championships, notably finishing ninth at the 2023 World Championships.

She is the first Estonian skater to win a medal on the ISU Grand Prix.

Petrõkina was born on 14 August 2004 in Tallinn, Estonia.

She graduated from high school in 2023, with plans to begin studying for a coaching diploma, and eventual pursuit of university education.

She is fluent in Russian and Estonian, and speaks a bit of English.

Petrõkina began learning how to skate in 2008 at the age of four.

She began competing internationally for Estonia during the 2012–13 season at the Chicks level before competing as a basic and advanced novice.

She made her international junior debut at the Haabersti Cup in October 2017.

Petrõkina made her Junior Grand Prix debut in November at the 2018 JGP Czech Republic, where she finished eleventh.

She did not receive a second JGP assignment that season.

She earned the bronze medals in the junior women's events at the 2018 Volvo Open Cup and 2018 Tallinn Trophy before placing fourth at the 2019 Estonian Championships.

She later took the titles at four more junior internationals in the new year.

Petrõkina received two Junior Grand Prix assignments to open her season.

Competing in Latvia, she placed sixth, and in Poland, tenth.

She defended her junior title at the 2019 Tallinn Trophy and placed second at the 2019 Ice Star in the lead up to the 2020 Estonian Championships, where she won the silver medal behind Eva-Lotta Kiibus.

In March 2020, Petrõkina competed at her first World Junior Championships, held at home in Tallinn.

She failed to advance to the free skate, placing thirty-third.

Petrõkina missed the entirety of the pandemic-affected 2020–21 season due to what was initially reported as an unspecified illness.

She revealed in 2023 that she had been suffering from an uncertain illness for some time prior the 2020 World Junior Championships, and following her poor showing there she was diagnosed with "severe" aplastic anemia.

Petrõkina required a bone marrow transplant, but could not find a suitable donor, and was hospitalized for five months while undergoing immunosuppression therapy.

Initially advised that she would not be able to return to skating for two to three years, a prospect she considered tantamount to the end of her career and which caused "a little depression," she was ultimately able to resume training in advance of the following season.

Petrõkina opened her season on the Junior Grand Prix at the second installment of the 2021 JGP France.

She placed seventh at the event and followed that performance up with a fourth-place finish at the 2021 JGP Austria, a career-best placement for her on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.

In November, Petrõkina made her senior international debut at her first Challenger series event, the 2021 CS Cup of Austria, where she won the bronze medal behind Japanese skater Wakaba Higuchi, and South Korea's Park Yeon-jeong.

She also finished nearly forty points ahead of domestic rival and reigning Estonian champion Eva-Lotta Kiibus.

She received a second Challenger assignment the following weekend, the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup, where she won the silver medal behind Russian competitor Maiia Khromykh and ahead of Ekaterina Kurakova of Poland.

In December, Petrõkina won her first senior national title at the 2022 Estonian Championships over Kiibus.

After winning her national title, Petrõkina competed at a third Challenger assignment, the 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb.

She placed fourth in the short program but advanced into bronze medal position by winning the free skate ahead of gold medalist Anastasiia Gubanova and silver medalist Amber Glenn.

Due to Petrõkina's national results, she qualified as the top-seeded Estonian woman to one of two berths for her country at the 2022 European Championships in Tallinn.

She finished eighth, also defeating Kiibus for a third time that season, but despite this, she was not named to the Estonian Olympic team due to the national federation's criteria for assigning the spot.

Petrõkina expressed excitement at competing at the European championships alongside top athletes in the sport.

Notably, the event was held in the same arena as the 2020 World Junior Championships, where she had failed to qualify for the free skate.

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Russia invaded Ukraine.

As a result, the International Skating Union banned all Russian athletes from competing at ISU championships.

As Russian women had dominated international figure skating in recent years, this had a significant impact on the field.

Petrõkina then made her World Championship debut, finishing sixteenth.

Due to both the invasion and the Omicron variant, the World Junior Championships could not be held as scheduled in Sofia in early March, and were rescheduled for mid-April in Tallinn, the third ISU championship held there in that year.