At 36-years-old, university lecturer Rachael Gunn is just a handful of dance battles away from blazing a trail as Australia's first Olympic Bgirl.
Known as 'Raygun' in breakdancing circles, the Sydney local is one of five women on the Australia team competing at the Oceania Breaking Championships this weekend.
Dance battles will be split over Friday and Saturday at Sydney's Town Hall to determine the region's top Bboys and Bgirls, with the winners clinching a spot at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Gunn - who has represented Australia at the sport's last two world championships - was the nation's top-ranked Bgirl in 2020 and 2021, and has emerged as a leading contender for an Olympic berth.
"It's totally crazy to me and it's definitely a 'pinch me' moment," Gunn told AAP on Thursday.
"I didn't know that there was a breaking community in Sydney.
"I started in my mid-20s through my husband, so to now potentially represent Australia at the Olympics at the age of 36, almost 37, is nuts.
"None of us knew it would be in the Olympics. I just feel really lucky."
Paris 2024 could be Gunn's only chance at competing for Olympic glory, with the sport - introduced for the Games in the French capital - snubbed in the Los Angeles 2028 program.
The road to Paris has not always been smooth, with the Australian breaking community scrambling to build the pathway.
The Australian Breaking Association has had to scurry in recent months to find the remaining $80,000 of a budget of $200,000 to put on the first regional championship.
"Even if breaking is in the Olympics again, there's no guarantee that we're going to have an Oceania qualifier," Gunn said.
"We almost didn't have one this time round. (Governing body) Ausbreaking worked really hard to secure that."
Pre-selection followed by a top-16 round-robin in the Bboy category will take place on Friday, with the Bgirl and Bboy quarter-finals onwards hitting the floor on Saturday.
Athletes will be judged on six criteria: creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality.
"It's a really athletic dance, but you also need to be able to freestyle and express yourself," Gunn said.
"You can't do that under pressure. I'm trying not to think about that. I'm trying just to go in and enjoy it.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, something I never thought would happen.
"I'm just going to try and savour it and enjoy it and let my body take over."
