Harley & Katya (ABC TV Monday 12 December 2022)

: Ekaterina (Katya) Alexandrovskaya, a small, fearless teenager from Moscow, and Harley Windsor, a young Indigenous Sydneysider, spent four years striving to become the best figure skating partnership in the world under Australia’s banner.

This is the story of what both their own and others’ efforts to push them led to.

In 2006, the coaching couple Andrei and Galina Pachin begin to instruct figure skater Harley Windsor. Nearly a decade later, unable to find a partner for the young Indigenous man from Western Sydney, the Russian emigrants boldly look to their homeland, a global leader in the sport.

On the ice of Moscow in December 2015, 19-year-old Harley meets the petite and fearless 15-year-old Ekaterina (Katya) Alexandrovskaya, his perfect match. To compete together on the international stage, however, one of them must move countries, and Katya’s world-famous coach Nina Mozer cannot convince the Russian authorities that Harley should relocate.

Katya and her mother consider the opportunity and conclude that it is worth pursuing. Katya will accompany Harley to Australia, where she will reside at the home of her coaches, Andrei and Galina.

“I could not believe what I was looking at,” recalls Olympic scout Belinda Noonan when she saw them skating together after only a few weeks at Sydney’s Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink. “They are amazing. They’re like world-level now… It was mind-blowing.”

In their international debut in September 2016 at the Junior Grand Prix Czech Skate in Ostrava, Harley and Katya place eighth overall. Three weeks later, in Tallinn, Estonia, they win gold. A whirlwind tour of junior and senior competitions around the world commences.

Without a common language, the couple has difficulty communicating, but their skill, grace, and harmony on the ice contribute to their meteoric rise.

In March of 2017, the pair wins the Junior World Figure Skating Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. No Australian figure skaters had previously won gold at an event organized by the International Skating Union (ISU), the sport’s governing body. Russia is not content.

The Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) provides $59,000 to help Australian athletes prepare for a variety of international competitions.

The Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany is the final chance for pairs figure skating to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Harley and Katya win bronze despite the fact that Harley told Andrei just prior to stepping onto the ice that he was unable to compete. They secure a position in the Korean city of PyeongChang.

Australia will be represented in pairs figure skating for the first time since 1998, when the sibling duo Stephen Carr and Danielle McGrath (née Carr) competed. It has taken a long time for Australia to reach this milestone: Harley will be the nation’s first Indigenous winter Olympian.

The public and media attention intensifies the physical and emotional strain Harley and Katya have been under since their union. Katya is harmed by her absence of family and social isolation.

Figure skating is especially hazardous for women. They are the ones who are thrown into the air during acrobatics, putting them at the greatest risk of injuries, including concussion.

In Korea in February of 2018, Harley and Katya finish an unsatisfactory eighteenth.

Because of her drinking, Katya is asked to leave the Pachin residence. She no longer accepts Andrei’s coaching.

The OWIA provides additional funding and a plan to send Katya and Harley to Montreal for training, as they are considered medal contenders for the 2022 Olympic Games. The move is not particularly successful. Harley is plagued by injuries upon their return, and the OWIA pulls two-thirds of their funding.

Katya collapses early in 2020 for the second time. She has been diagnosed with epilepsy and instructed to stop skating. Diuretic pills, energy drinks, and alcohol have weakened her physical condition.

In July of 2020, the unthinkable occurs.

Forward to the year 2022. A proposal by the International Skating Union (ISU) that skaters must be at least 17 years old to compete in senior competitions is nearly unanimously approved in foreign countries. As of 30 September 2022, 68 Australian organizations have signed a new national integrity framework aimed at fostering a safe, equitable, and healthy sporting environment. Some refer to it as Katya’s Law. The OWIA is one of the organizations that have signed up, but Ice Skating Australia has not.

Airdate: Monday 12 December 2022 at 8.50pm on ABC TV.

Featured Image Credit: ABC TV