The Reel Review
The figure skating partnership of Australian Harley Windsor and Russian-born Ekaterina “Katya” Alexandrovskaya, who together overcame a lack of money, language barriers and immigration challenges to become 2017 World Junior Pair Champions and 2018 Olympians, is profiled in this heartbreaking sports documentary, which looks at the darker side of competitive figure skating.
Home videos, competition footage and interviews tell the tale of this skating pair that began in December 2015, after the Indigenous Australian flew to Moscow with his Russian coaches to find a new skating partner. Within days, Katya would leave Russia for Australia for a new life and dreams of Olympic stardom. After a meteoric rise through the ranks to become 2017 World Junior Pairs Champions, trouble arose. Recordings of Katya’s own voice tells the haunting story of a lonely teenage girl in a new country, with no family, no friends, no knowledge of English, a coach that she said was verbally abusive, and no one to confide in. So she turned to alcohol.
At times the sports documentary gets a bit repetitive, struggling to fill the hour and a half runtime, while skimming over Katya’s alcohol addiction, depression and apparent suicide at the age of 20. But it is a sobering insiders’ look at the not-so-glamorous side of competitive figure skating and the enormous toll it takes on young athletes in their quest for perfection.
REEL FACTS
• In July 2023, Harley Windsor and Canadian-born skater Cho Hye-jin announced that they will be skating for South Korea in the upcoming 2023-24 season. But there is now word she is looking for a new partner.
• Moscow police say Katya Alexandrovskaya fell six floors from her apartment building on the evening of July 17, 2020, after leaving a note that simply said “I love.” Alexandrovskaya had been suffering from depression and drinking heavily after having to give up ice skating just five months prior due to her epilepsy diagnosis and being stuck at home during the COVID pandemic, at a time when she was trying to establish a new life in her native Russia.
• If you or someone you care about in the U.S. is having suicidal thoughts, call or text 988. The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline provides 24×7 free, confidential support.
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