Ekaterina's Story
Moscow-born Ekaterina ‘Katia’ Alexandrovskaya and her partner Harley Windsor made their Olympic debut in Pairs Figure Skating at PyeongChang 2018, finishing 18th in a hotly contested field.
The second pair on the ice, Windsor and Alexandrovskaya put down a strong skate that included a huge opening triple twist, posting a score of 61.55 – just below their seasons best. Needing to finish in the top sixteen in their field to move through to the free skate, despite skating a clean program, the pair finished in 18th place, just out of free skate contention.
17-year-old Alexandrovskaya was introduced to Windsor in late 2015 by Windsor’s coaches Galina and Andrei Pachin. The Pachins’ were also from Russia and moved to Australia in the 1990s. They had trained Windsor in their elegant Russian style which was perfectly suited to Alexandrovskaya’s technique, as she had trained in the Russian system. The pair gelled instantly.
The dynamic duo has been the first Australians to make an ISU Final event and to win an ISU event. The pair made more Australian history when they won the 2017 Junior World Figure Skating Championships in Taipei City, Taiwan. Coming into the final round ranked third after the short program, the Aussie couple defeated their rivals from the world’s skating powerhouse nations to claim the gold medal in a confident and attacking free program.
Their performance followed a ground-breaking gold medal at a Junior Grand Prix in Estonia in 2016, another first for Australian figure skating.
Katia tragically passed away
in Moscow in July 2020.
