From Russia and Rooty Hill to a place at Winter Olympics

He came from Rooty Hill, she came from Russia, but together skating this pair will make their international debut

Sydney ice skaters Harley Windsor and Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya. Picture: Britta Campion

He came from Rooty Hill, she came from Russia, but together skating pair Harley Windsor and Katia Alexandrovskaya will make their senior international debut this week at the Four Continents Championship in South Korea.

The event, at the Gangneung Ice Arena, will double as the Olympic test event for figure-skating ahead of next year’s Winter Games, and represents an important milestone along the journey the world-class duo hope will end with them representing Australia at the Olympics in 2018.

That hope rests partly on 17-year-old Alexandrovskaya receiving her Australian citizenship in time to qualify for the Games, and partly on their performances over the next few months.

They were matched by their respective Russian coaches less than 18 months ago, when neither could find a suitable partner in their home countries, and within a year they had become the first Australian pair to win an international junior grand prix, establishing themselves as one of the top five junior pairs in the world.

But now they are stepping up to senior ranks and they are both excited and nervous about what lies ahead of them this week.

“Hopefully everything will go all right,’’ Windsor said after their first practice yesterday.

“It was a little bit scary when we realised we were getting on the ice with all three Chinese pairs (including the world No 2 ranked Sui Wenjing and Han Cong). You don’t want to get in their way but then you kind of realise we are doing everything they are doing, so we have to have the mindset that we’re just as good as them and we have every right to be there.

“We’re not really used to skating with senior pairs but I think we handled it all right.’’

As well as the challenge of competing in open competition, Windsor is managing an injury, after tearing his patella tendon last month.

But he said they had been able to work around it in training and was confident it would not prevent them from performing this week.

“We’ve managed our workload on the ice and we’re trying not to overdo it,’’ he said. “I can do everything, it’s just if I do it repetitively it starts to get irritated.’’

The young pair made history at their last competition, when they became the first Australians to qualify for the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, where they finished fifth in Marseilles in December.

Since then they have worked exclusively on their senior program, where the free skate is 30 seconds longer and includes an extra lift.

“It doesn’t sound like much but it makes a big difference,’’ Windsor said. “It’s hard and it’s tiring. Hopefully we can do well and then we have junior worlds (next month in Taipei) and hopefully it will make our junior program feel a lot easier.’’

Their coaches Andrei and Galina Pachin believe they can contend for a medal at the junior titles and then carry that momentum into the senior world championships two weeks later, where they will have the chance to secure a place at the Olympics.

Australia has one of its strongest figure-skating teams competing in Gangneung, including Sochi Olympian Brendan Kerry and Australia’s best female skater, 18-year-old Kailani Craine, who hopes to make her Olympic debut here next year.

Craine, whose name is Hawaiian for “sea and sky’’, said she already felt at home at the new venue after arriving from her Los Angeles training base on Monday.

“I’m really happy with how I’ve trained for this competition and I’m feeling really good about myself, therefore I’m really excited to compete,’’ she said.

“I love skating at these competitions. It’s a highlight of the year, just because the arena is so magnificent and the support you get from the crowd in Korea. I don’t really get nervous in front of a bigger crowd because I really do like playing to a crowd.”

Craine, from Newcastle, finished high school last year and is now able to devote all her energy to her Olympic campaign.

This competition is important because it is the qualifying event for next month’s world championships and only one Australian woman can earn a place in that field, which means Craine will have to maintain her recent ascendancy over Sochi Olympian Brooklee Han, who will also compete this week