Following her vacation in Spain, Elina Goidina of Estonia took part in Benoît Richaud’s training camp in Courmayeur, Italy. Photo © Tatjana Flade | Golden Skate
Estonia’s Elina Goidina growing into her own
Elina Goidina could be the next name to emerge from Estonia’s rising figure skating program. Two-time European champion Niina Petrokina and 2025 Skate Canada silver medalist Aleksandr Selevko have already helped put the small Baltic nation on the map. As the 16-year-old prepares for one more season in the junior ranks, she is chasing bigger goals while navigating the unique challenges of training far from her coach.
Season preparation with Benoît Richaud
Following her vacation in Spain, Goidina took part in Benoît Richaud’s training camp in Courmayeur, Italy, in June to get ready for the new season. The teenager from Tallinn was not too happy with the past season when she finished 14th at the World Junior Championships on home ice last March.
“This was one of my least successful seasons,” she noted. “I made many mistakes in the competitions, and I was unable to cope with my nerves.”
Goidina looks back at positive experiences as well; however, she was not satisfied with her performance at the major events.
“It’s this age,” she said with a sigh, referring to the challenges of growing up. “I just try to carry on calmly and work out everything.”
Working online with Alexei Mishin
Goidina came to Courmayeur, not only to work with Richaud, but also to join her coach Alexei Mishin, who was teaching at the camp. The skater now lists Mishin as her main coach. However, due to the problematic travel to Russia, she usually trains at home in Tallinn and sends videos to Mishin. Therefore, getting some live coaching at the camp was a big plus for her.
“I started to work with Mr. Mishin after Junior Worlds in Hungary (2025),” she shared. “That’s when we got started on the triple Axel.”
Goidina enjoys working with the grandmaster of the sport. Mishin, at age 85, still has a lot to give to athletes.
“I really like the way he explains things, and I like his exercises,” Goidina noted. “I have been working with him since I was very young. He taught me the double Axel and triple Salchow when I was nine years old. At the time, he used to come to us to Estonia, to Tartu, for summer camps. And before the pandemic and the war, I used to go to him in St. Petersburg as well.”
When she is not at a camp with Mishin, the Estonian skater records her practice and sends the videos to get advice and corrections.
“I put the phone on the boards and try to jump in a way that the jump is on camera,” she explained. “As long as the internet works, it’s fine.”
Goidina does not have an on-site coach in Tallinn. Her mother helps oversee her daily training and travels with her to competitions whenever Mishin is unable to attend because of visa or travel restrictions. Several countries, including Estonia, do not give visas to Russian citizens and also deny them entry when they have a visa from another European country that is part of the Schengen Treaty.
The young skater said she has gotten used to the situation.
However, training presents several challenges. Goidina trains at the Tondiraba Ice Rink, host to the World Junior Championships and other major skating competitions. Yet it takes her 50 minutes to get there from her home, and the schedule leaves her no time to return home between practice sessions.
“If I have a morning practice, I need to get up at 6 a.m.,” she noted. Then I get home around 9 p.m. after practice, stretching, and off-ice training.”
However, Goidina likes the facility itself. “There are three ice rinks, there is a good zone for the warm-up, and overall the conditions are good.”
Triple Axel and quads in the making
Goidina plans to add the triple Axel this season.
“I hope it works out and I can put it into my program,” she said. “I really want to do it so I can set myself apart a little bit.”
Goidina attempted the triple Axel for the first time in the free skate at her final competition of the season, the Black Sea Ice Cup in Bulgaria in April. She went for it but missed it.
“The first time, it was a bit scary to go for it,” she recalled. “When I was going into it, my legs were a bit trembling. I didn’t want to pop it. I wanted to rotate it and still complete all the remaining elements after the Axel.”
She did exactly that as she landed all remaining jumps successfully and scored 124.40 points for her program.
“The hardest thing is to keep the concentration for the remaining jumps in the program,” the 16-year-old acknowledged.
The triple Axel isn’t the only jump on her agenda. She has also been developing the quad toe and eyeing other quads.
“I need to work more off ice for that, get stronger physically, do combination jumps to feel the rotation, and then get to the quads,” she said.
New free skate set to “Dracula”
Goidina has prepared two new programs for the season. Russian choreographer Sergei Komolov choreographed the free skate to Dracula: A Love Tale for her. The individual selections are: “I Can do Everything” by Christopher Lennertz, “Music Box” and “The Dance” by Danny Elfman, and “Victoriam Speramus” by Krypteria.
“We decided on the music about half a year ago,” the skater revealed. She watched the 2025 film and immediately wanted to skate to its music. Komolov agreed that it was a good choice.
“I play Dracula’s wife, who is killed at the beginning,” Goidina explained of her character. “Then she is reborn, and she has dreams about what happened in her past life. Then she meets Dracula and starts to remember and to love him again. I really like the music and the costume that I’m going to have.”
Richaud built the new short program to Spanish-inspired music. The music is set to an AI version of “Dios es un stalker” originally performed by Rosalía.
“This music has a somewhat modern version of the tango,” Goidina explained. “It’s an interesting rhythm! The metaphor ‘God as a stalker’ is how you cannot hide your secrets. It makes this music even more interesting. When I heard this piece, I realized immediately that I wanted to skate to it.”
Goidina added that at the time the music was selected, the question arose as who would choreograph it.
“There were several options and I am very glad that Benoît Richaud became the choreographer,” she said. “I really like the program and I am very grateful to him.”
Learning from the best
The teenager doesn’t have any particular skater she looks up to but appreciates different qualities from different skaters.
“I like someone’s jumps and want to jump like him or her. Yuna Kim had a very good technique, for example,” Goidina pointed out. “Alexandra Trusova obviously has a great spring and rotation in her jumps. She jumps very high. Or someone like Nathan Chen or Ilia Malinin, but it would be strange if I compared myself to boys.”
As for spins, Goidina feels that the best spinner she knows was Julia Lipnitskaia.
“Her spins were just awesome!” she said of the now-retired skater. “Julia spun so fast, and she was so flexible. I am far from her, obviously.”
In order to improve her footwork, Goidina has been training with two-time Ice Dance World Champion Maxim Staviski.
“I often got a level four for my step sequences last season,” the skater pointed out. “Therefore, I’m training with him again so that he will clean up my footwork and we’re working on skating skills as well.”
Balancing sport and school
Goidina attends regular high school at home in Tallinn. She finished the 9th grade this spring.
“Sometimes it is really hard because I am travelling a lot to training camps and competitions,” she said.
When she is not in Tallinn, the skater studies by herself and looks up tutorials on YouTube. She has a tutor for Estonian and mathematics.
Goidina belongs to the minority in Estonia that speaks Russian as their first language. When she is home in Tallinn, she attends classes and does exams.
“Luckily, my teachers are supportive and help me.”
As a result, Goidina is happy with her grades. Her favorite subjects are mathematics and English.
One more junior season ahead
With senior eligibility still a year away after turning 16 in May, Goidina will remain in the junior ranks this season.
“Next season I want to move up to the senior level,” she commented.
The beauty of figure skating is what she loves most about the sport.
“Of course, you have to work hard for this beauty to come out,” Goidina noted. “I love that we have programs and you can choose whatever character and put on a little theatre piece. I love the speed on the ice, the feeling of jumping, and when you learn something new and do it for the first time.”
She will kick off her season at the second ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Riga, Latvia, August 27–29. Her only goal is to perform the programs the way she practices them every day.
“I just want to skate clean programs and do everything that I can do in practice,” Goidina summed up. “Then whatever happens, happens.”
