Olympics: Harley Windsor and Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya win junior title

Indigenous skater Harley Windsor and his Russian-born partner Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya have won a world figure-skating title.

Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor of Australia, winners of the gold medal in junior pairs free skating at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taipei.

Indigenous skater Harley Windsor and his Russian-born partner Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya have become the first Australians to win a world figure-skating title in Taiwan.

Windsor, 20, and Alexandrovskaya, 17, were matched by their respective Russian coaches little more than a year ago but have emerged as the best junior pair in the world.

In their free program at the world junior titles, they excelled to rise from third place after the short program and claim victory from the favoured Russian pair of Aleksandra Boikova and Dimitryii Kozlovskii, and Chinese duo Gao Yumen and Xie Zhong.

Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor of Australia compete in Taiwan.

Their winning routine earned them a personal best score of 104.16 points for a combined total of 163.90.

Their free program was packed with difficulty as they completed a split triple twist, throw triple flip, and side-by-side triple jump combinations. Even a fall on their throw triple salchow could not prevent their triumph.

They had gone into the championships believing they could win a medal but were stunned to emerge with the title.

“I’m shocked that we got first place. It’s crazy to put Australia on the scene for skating and we’re over the moon about the gold medal. I can’t put it into words,’’ Windsor said.

Windsor, from Rooty Hill in western Sydney, has been coached by husband-and-wife team Andrei and Galina Pachin since he was nine-years-old and they were thrilled to see his success.

Andrei was with the young pair in Taiwan but Galina watched from their home in Sydney.

“This is a big thing. I am crying and just so proud,” she said.

The new world junior champions will return to training in Moscow for two weeks before contesting their first world senior championships in Helsinki, where they hope to qualify for next year’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

However they will need the federal government to fast-track Alexandrovskaya’s citizenship application if they are to create an historic moment for Australia at the Olympics.

Windsor, who has Aboriginal heritage on both sides of his family, would become the first indigenous Australian to compete at the Winter Games.