Kailani Craine may have been training under the cloak of darkness but it felt "fitting" to be back where it all began ahead of her second Winter Olympics.
The 23-year-old figure skater went to great lengths to avoid COVID when she made a brief visit to her home town of Newcastle before flying to Beijing on Wednesday.
Craine told the Newcastle Herald before she left that it had been "nice to be home" with her family in Waratah, even if under difficult circumstances.
The Novocastrian lived a life of isolation during her week here. It included midnight training sessions at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium to ensure her Olympic campaign remained on track.
"I don't go anywhere other than to train," Craine said. "I've been training by myself, late at night. We're not taking any chances of something going wrong. Double-masking, skating with masks, taking every precaution.
"But I managed the whole pandemic by myself and all of the work is pretty much done. Now, it's just polish and practise the routines, and keep fit and healthy."
Craine qualified Australia for the 2022 Games in women's single skating with a strong performance at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany in September.
She booked her own ticket to Beijing as the top-ranked Australian after the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia two weeks ago.
Craine was a finalist on Olympics debut in PyeongChang, South Korea four years ago and opens her Beijing Games campaign on February 15.
Getting to another Olympics has been "an absolute journey", including more than 12 months without competition due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"It's been full of ups and downs going into this one, full of stress and pressure, but I think I'm a much better skater because of it and I feel really prepared," Craine said.
Craine splits the figure skating season between a Los Angeles training base and Europe but wanted to come home before the Olympics.
"I wanted to leave from Australia to go to the Games because it just feels so fitting to come from where it all began," she said. "It's been a very emotional season, but it all worked out well and this is the reward.
"You get to go to this additional competition and I get to represent the best country in the world, so I'm very happy and excited."
"It still hasn't set in. I feel like it's not going to set in until I walk into the village."
