Estonia’s Niina Petrokina on Friday capped a remarkable comeback by claiming her second consecutive European women’s figure skating title just weeks after returning to the ice following Achilles surgery.
The 21-year-old delivered a composed, confident skate to Hans Zimmer’s Dune, landing seven triple jumps to score 145.53 points for the free program and 216.14 overall.
After having surgery on Oct. 9 last year, Petrokina was not able to train her triple jumps until less than two weeks ago.
Photo: AFP
“I don’t know how I do it, but I know I am unstoppable, because I love what I do,” she said.
“The first [European title] for me was shock. This time I came here to win and show one more time that I can do this, because in Estonia some guys told me that it’s unreal to win second time, and I just wanted to show that it’s real,” she added.
Loena Hendrickx of Belgium, world silver and bronze medalist who is making a comeback from ankle surgery, climbed from fifth after the short program to finish second with 191.26.
“I was very relieved when I knew there was still a chance to come back at my level,” said Hendrickx, who is to compete in her third Olympics next month. “I think the power and the love for skating is just very big, and that’s what kept me going.”
Lara Naki Gutmann of Italy was third on 186.87. She skated to the soundtrack from Jaws and dozens of appreciative fans hurled stuffed IKEA sharks onto the ice after her program.
Earlier on Friday, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France stormed to the top of the ice dance leaderboard, a result that underscored the promise of their fast-track partnership ahead of the Olympics.
Skating to Vogue by Madonna, the duo earned 86.93 points in the rhythm dance — just shy of their second-placed score at last month’s Grand Prix Final — with an electric performance that drew the crowd to its feet.
It was a promising skate three weeks from the Milano-Cortina Olympics, where they are expected to challenge the US’ Madison Chock and Evan Bates for gold, and in only their fourth international competition together since they teamed up in March last year.
“I feel like every time [we compete] is a new experience,” Cizeron said. “And it had been a few years since I had been to the Europeans. Our focus today was just to get in our bubble and enjoy every moment of this together, and we succeeded doing that.”
Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson are in second place on 85.47 points, with their Spice Girls program. Three-times defending European champions Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy stand third (84.48).
Cizeron, the reigning Olympic champion and five-times world champion with previous partner Gabriella Papadakis, made headlines earlier this week when he accused Papadakis of spreading false information about him in a “smear campaign.”
Papadakis alleged in her book So as not to Disappear, released on Thursday, that she was under Cizeron’s “control” throughout their career.
In a statement earlier this week he said he had “shown deep respect” for Papadakis throughout their career together.
He added that his lawyers had been instructed to demand an immediate halt to what he called defamatory claims.
French media reported that Papadakis had been removed from her commentary role for NBC Sports at the Olympics due to a conflict of interest.
Fournier Beaudry previously competed for Canada with Nikolaj Sorensen, but obtained her French citizenship in November last year to pave the way for Olympic eligibility.
She competed with a bandaged knee, having suffered a gash when she fell in free dance at the Grand Prix Final.
“My knee is very good. It’s still recovering a little bit from the final, but it’s going fine,” she said.
Fear and Gibson, whose bronze at last year’s world championships was the first podium finish for Britain since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean more than 40 years earlier, soaked up the cheers from the home crowd.
“I was planning for [pressure] coming here; will it feel like a lot of pressure and more overwhelming” said Fear, who wore a Union Jack dress, her hair in Baby Spice buns.
“It was more just like: ‘Okay, what are you nervous about. You have all these people that are here to support and you’re representing them.’ That’s a huge dream come true,” she added.
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