01/16/26 04:33:00
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01/16 16:32 CST Petrokina stuns by retaining European figure skating title
after Achilles tendon surgery
Petrokina stuns by retaining European figure skating title after Achilles
tendon surgery
SHEFFIELD, England (AP) --- Niina Petrokina completed one of figure skating's
great comeback performances to retain her European championship title on
Friday, three months after Achilles tendon surgery.
Petrokina landed seven triple jumps in a clean, personal-best free skate to
music from the movie "Dune" to score 216.14 points, a score which ranks the
Estonian among some of the world's best ahead of next month's Winter Olympics.
"I don't know how I do it," Petrokina said when asked about her recovery. "I
needed everything that happened for this moment."
Petrokina had competed only in second-tier events and her national
championships since surgery in October. She'd struggled with pain for much of
2025 since her breakthrough European championship win on home ice a year ago.
Petrokina is the first skater to win back-to-back European women's titles since
Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia in 2017.
As other skaters made mistakes, 2024 champion Loena Hendrickx of Belgium
managed her own comeback statement. Hendrickx had been fifth after Wednesday's
short program but took the silver medal on 191.26 after struggling throughout
last year with the return of a years-old ankle injury.
As Petrokina's score was announced, Hendrickx made a gesture of bowing to the
champion.
Lara Naki Gutmann won bronze for Italy on 186.87 after two top contenders from
the short program missed the podium with erratic free skates. Nina Pinzarrone
of Belgium dropped from second to fourth overall and Anna Pezzetta of Italy
from third to eighth.
Ice dance
France's Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron took the lead in the
ice dance despite a dispute between Cizeron and his ex-partner overshadowing
the event.
Cizeron won the Olympic gold medal in 2022 with Gabriella Papadakis, who has
published a book describing him as controlling and their partnership as unequal.
Cizeron has contested her claims and called the comments part of a "smear
campaign." Papadakis said on Friday she lost a commentary role with NBC for the
upcoming Winter Olympics.
Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron scored 86.93 points to lead the dance event ahead
of the free dance on Saturday, leading Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson on
85.47 and Italy's Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri on 84.48.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics
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