Niina Petrõkina, a two-time European champion in women's singles figure skating, currently ranks tenth in her Olympic debut after the short program, a position she maintains amid strong competition. Her coach, Svetlana Varnavskaja, was pleased with her performance even though there was a minor mistake. Petrõkina scored 69.63 points in the short program, just shy of her Estonian record by 0.98 points, primarily due to a small error during the second jump of a cascade element, which cost her 0.84 points.

The base value for the cascade element was the maximum 10.10 points; however, Petrõkina received negative points for the execution quality, which affected her component scores, where she likely could have earned additional points to achieve a new personal best. Varnavskaja emphasized her satisfaction with the overall performance, noting that the mistake was not noticeable to the audience, only to specialists in the field.

As Petrõkina looks ahead to future competitions, the focus will be on refining her technique in the hopes of improving her scores and securing a higher placement. This performance indicates strong potential as she navigates her Olympic journey, and the support from her coach plays a critical role in her development as an athlete.