Some 14,500 kilometres separated Australia's premier figure skating pair, now they're telling their tale of connection to try to stamp a ticket to the Olympics.
Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore only began skating as a pair four years ago, but on Thursday (AEDT) they will compete for a spot in the 2026 Winter Olympics at the world figure skating championships in Boston.
If they finish inside the top sixteen, which they've done in their previous two worlds appearances, the duo will become the first Australian pair since 2018 to compete at the Games.
They're also aiming to claim Australia's first ever world championship medal, having won the country's first grand prix medal in October.
However, if Giotopoulos Moore's coaches hadn't put out an advertisement that he was looking for a new partner, the partnership would never have started.
"My coaches are both Russian, so they took me to Moscow to show us amazing skaters overseas," Sydney-born Giotopoulos Moore said.
"My coaches were trying to talk through their connections to see if they there were any girls who wanted to try pairs.
"And that's when Anastasia's coach answered and said I have a girl."
At worlds the pair will first compete in a short program where they must complete a series of jumps, lifts, step sequences and spins.
Although their dance has a formulaic criteria, they're using their history to set them apart from the competition.
"In the short program, the story that we're telling is us coming together and trying to figure out what we want to do and how we're going to go about it," Russian-born Golubeva said.
"As the program progresses, everything's working, everything's going good.
"Then towards the end, it's about us rebelling against against the people who are against us, who tell us it's not possible."
Despite coming from opposite corners of the globe, they both can represent Australia as only one skater in a pair needs to be a citizen of the participating country.
Regardless, Golubeva feels that she is an Australian as her partner has shown her all the Australian delicacies.
"I've tried to indoctrinate her into the best Australian practices. Milo, Vegemite, fairy bread, Tim Tams, all the classics," Giotopoulos Moore said.
"And we've had success."
Some success.
"I don't like Vegemite," Golubeva replied.
