In a joint statement, the two bodies said that the partnership marked "a significant shared commitment to enhancing global tennis".

Since 2021, PIF has invested heavily in a number of major sports industries including setting up the LIV golf tour, a rival to the PGA, and purchasing English Premier League club Newcastle United.

The statement did not give details of the amount of the investment which will see PIF become the official naming partner of the ATP rankings.

PIF will also partner with ATP Tour events in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing and the ATP Finals, in addition to the Next Gen ATP Finals, hosted in Jeddah until 2027.

"Our strategic partnership with PIF marks a major moment for tennis," said ATP chief executive Massimo Calvelli in the joint statement.

"It's a shared commitment to propel the future of the sport. With PIF’s dedication to the next generation – fostering innovation and creating opportunities for all – the stage is set for a transformative new period of progress.”

Last year, the kingdom hosted its first ATP Tour event -- the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah -- along with exhibition matches pitting Novak Djokovic against Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka against Ons Jabeur.

- Anger at WTA bid -

In January Rafael Nadal, winner of 22 singles Grand Slams on the men's side, was named ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation.

The latest investment with the ATP follows a Saudi bid to secure the WTA Finals in Riyadh, a move that drew criticism from former women's champions Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova while winning the support of current world No.6 Jabeur.

PIF has reshaped the world of golf by setting up the LIV golf tour as a rival to the PGA.

The first event took place in June 2022, causing a split within the sport that caused LIV-affiliated players to be excluded from the Ryder Cup, PGA tour events and consequently the world rankings.

Reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm joined the LIV tour in December in a deal reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

However, a framework deal between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF is now under discussion with a view to ending the stand-off.

It also owns four football clubs in the Saudi Pro League and has spent over $885 million (820 million euros) on some of the biggest names in football to play for its teams.

The kingdom is also set to host the 2034 football World Cup.

But Saudi Arabia has been accused by its critics of "sportswashing" by using sport to improve its international reputation after widespread criticism of its human rights and environmental record.

"Through our collaboration with ATP, PIF will be a catalyst for growth of the global tennis landscape, developing talent, fostering inclusivity and driving sustainable innovation," said PIF's Mohamed AlSayyad.

- Murray 'concerns' -

Former world number one Andy Murray highlighted the commitment from the new partners to "collaborate to elevate the long-term future of tennis".

After he was knocked out of the ATP Dubai tournament on Wednesday, he said: "I don't know exactly what it means by sponsoring the events. I don't know what that will look like.

"One of my concerns is obviously actually more about the investment in lower levels of the game and the grassroots of the sport. I think that's extremely important."

World number four Daniil Medvedev said investment can only be a boost for the sport.

"I think if we can make tennis bigger as a sport, more interesting for people, have more coverage, just in general more people will know tennis, who tennis players are," said the former US Open champion.

"I think it's going to be good."

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The team head into their 2024 campaign, which has been overshadowed by seven-time F1 champion Hamilton agreeing to join next year, trying to recover ground on all-conquering Red Bull.

And Ferrari unveiled the SF-24 to their legion of fans with a short and low-key video, adding in a statement that "a small audience of guests" were given a live viewing of the new car.

Among those present were Ferrari's Team Principal Frederic Vasseur and drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who will race together for the last time this season.

Ferrari said that "the positive feeling the drivers had in the cockpit over the final few races of last season" was the starting point for the new car, with the aim being "a car that is easy to drive and that reacts predictably".

"This year, we must start off where we left off at the end of last season, when we were consistent front runners," said Vasseur.

"The longest ever F1 season awaits us and Charles, Carlos and I all agree, we must be more clinical and effective in how we manage the races."

The new 24-race campaign kicks off in Bahrain on March 2 with Ferrari not having won a drivers championship since 2007 and a constructors since 2008.

Ferrari finished miles behind Red Bull in both the championships in 2023, with Leclerc closing the season 369 points behind champion Max Verstappen in fifth and Sainz seventh.

"I like the look of the car a lot... But of course, what really interests me is how it will perform on track, as that's all that matters," said Leclerc.

"This season the aim is to be front runners all the time and I want to give our fans plenty to cheer about."

Briton Hamilton will partner Leclerc when he joins Ferrari -- replacing Sainz whose contract is up come the end of the season -- hoping to finally claim a record-breaking eighth F1 title.

The 39-year-old won the last of his world crowns in 2020 but lost the 2021 championship in controversial fashion to Verstappen when the race director ignored the safety car rules in Abu Dhabi, effectively blocking the Briton's route to victory in both that Grand Prix and the championship.

Dutchman Verstappen has dominated F1 since, romping to the last two championships in a powerful combination of great car and driver.

Hamilton finished third last season but he didn't win a single Grand Prix for the second year in a row and ended up 341 points behind Verstappen who won 19 of 22 races.

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Some 60 designers, ranging from rising talents to renowned brands like Burberry, will show their new designs over five days, hoping to draw the interest of buyers and fashion influencers.

Irish-American designer Paul Costelloe's show, titled "Once upon a Time" -- a reference to the iconic 1984 film "Once Upon a Time in America" -- showcased wide-belted coats in ecru, anthracite and checkered tweed.

Costelloe, 78, who is bedridden with a virus, was absent from the event.

- Gen Z favourite -

In another early show, Ukrainian Masha Popova, a "Gen Z" favourite, presented a collection inspired by early 2000s so-called Y2K era.

Performed against a backdrop of techno music and in front of a crowd of influencers, it featured models in low-waisted pants, washed out denim -- and heels topped with long gaiters.

Elsewhere, Turkish designer Bora Aksu delivered a gloomier mood, aimed at finding and celebrating "the purest beauty amidst the most vivid of horrors".

Slender models wearing bodices paired with wide sleeves, lace gowns, flowing skirts, blouses and masculine jackets paraded to slow-beating music, with cream, grey, black and dark blue the predominant colours.

The designer, who was inspired by the work of sculptor Eva Hesse who fled Nazi-Germany as a child in 1938, used tones of pink and blush to retain a light, feminine energy, while making use of old stock and rejected rolls for his garments.

On Friday night, British-Nigerian Tolu Coker was given rapturous applause after her show, which featured a runway made to resemble a traditionally African street, with yellow, blue and green umbrellas, stacks of tyres and a "Give Way" street sign.

Beige, brown and black and white were the prominent colours, with the models wearing coats, heels, boots and skirts.

The packed audience snapped photographs on their cellphones when one model walked the runway wearing a multi-coloured calabash head decoration.

Another model drew applause as she paraded wearing a green jacket and beige skirt.

At the end of the show the stern-faced models huddled on the catwalk before breaking into smiles and waving their hands, drawing cheers from the audience.

Coker waved and smiled as she followed the models down the runway.

- Tumultuous time -

Despite the audience's excitement, the showcase comes at a tumultuous time for Britain's fashion industry, amid post-Brexit trade barriers and the country's inflation-fuelled cost-of-living crisis.

The situation has prompted some nascent designers to question the viability of investing in British fashion events.

Rising star Dilara Findikoglu made headlines last September after she cancelled her show days before the event for financial reasons.

The industry, which employs close to 900,000 people in the UK and contributes £21 billion ($26 billion) to the British economy, is facing "incredibly challenging times," LFW's director Caroline Rush told AFP.

But what can be garnered from 40 years, she said, "is that in the most economically challenging times, you see the most incredible creativity".

"There's almost this visceral reaction to what's happening at home," Rush added.

"I'm hoping that the creativity that we see over the next few days will be incredibly uplifting, that it will talk about the role of culture and creativity in society."

The first edition of British Fashion Week was held in 1984 in a tent set up in the parking lot of the former Commonwealth Institute in West London.

Initially overlooked, the British capital earned its rebellious reputation thanks to legends like Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano, who put the city on the fashion map. Then there was the "Cool Britannia" era in the 1990s, a cultural euphoria period when Stella McCartney or Matthew Williamson dressed supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.

Since then, London has lost some of its allure, with the departure of star designers and houses preferring Paris, such as Alexander McQueen or Victoria Beckham.

However, the BFC's NEWGEN sponsorship program, which supports young designers, has affirmed London's position as a talent incubator.

And while it remains less prestigious than Paris or Milan, London Fashion Week is celebrated for being freer, more radical, and less formulaic.

This anniversary edition also aims to highlight greater diversity and inclusivity, in terms of body shapes, ages, or skin colours of the models, as well as in the designers' collections, with identities or inspirations from the Caribbean, Iran, India, or Ethiopia.

The weekend will feature more familiar names like JW Anderson, Richard Quinn, Ahluwalia, and Simone Rocha, before Burberry's show scheduled for Monday evening.

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Mendelsohn, 54, has become one of Hollywood's favourite character actors since his Emmy-winning turn in Netflix drama "Bloodline" and appearances in blockbusters like "Rogue One" and "Ready Player One".

But it is his starring role as France's best-known designer in "The New Look", currently playing on Apple TV, that has been closest to his heart.

"The longer I was in those shoes, the more I loved him," said Mendelsohn.

He met AFP Tuesday at the Gallerie Dior in Paris, just after putting in an appearance at the label's latest fashion week show.

"The New Look" delves into Christian Dior's traumatic origins in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, as well as the story Gabriele "Coco" Chanel, played by Juliette Binoche.

"I do love him more than anyone I've ever played. In terms of a hero, he's sensitive, he's anxious, so full of doubt, full of self-loathing... but he still did so many impactful things."

Mendelsohn said he was attracted to the character's complex inner demons.

"He loathed himself because his public self was not close to his private self, and he couldn't reconcile the two," he said.

Mendelsohn sat with the show's costume designers for hours to immerse himself in their work.

"We shot it all here in Paris which was such a gift," he said. "There's something about this city and this culture."

The show is all in English, and Mendelsohn took on a French accent for the role: "An Australian accent for Christian Dior is not really gonna work!"

For all his immersion, he admitted he has "only scratched the surface" of what the industry is about.

"I come from a fairly typical Australian surburban male background, not exactly understanding a lot about fashion and how it interacts with the zeitgeist," he said.

"I wouldn't say I've become a fashionista since doing this show, but I'm certainly more appreciative of the role that fashion plays."

Looking dapper in a grey Dior suit, he added: "I've got to an age where I think I'm better off wearing suits rather than just jeans and a T-shirt!"

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For more snobbish Parisians, the "banlieues" -- including commuter towns like Villiers-sur-Marne -- conjure images of urban riots and drab tower blocks, not the obvious setting for a luxury fashion label.

But Traore, who grew up here as one of seven children to Malian immigrants -- his father a rubbish collector and his mother a cleaner -- is proud of his "made in the banlieue" couture.

He was back on the catwalk on Tuesday for his latest Paris Fashion Week show, another sophisticated collection of his trademark flowing drapes and pleats.

A few days earlier, he gave AFP a tour of the "beautiful chaos" of his atelier -- located on the second floor of a nondescript building in Villiers-sur-Marne, squeezed between a job centre and a youth club.

"I like to navigate between Paris and the suburbs," he said.

"The inspiration is just as strong when I'm here, in the heart of my neighbourhood as when I'm in Paris in the galleries and museums, or travelling abroad.

"I want to restore the image of the banlieues and all my brothers here. I love the cultural mix."

- Training academy -

Traore's dreams as a youngster were focused more on football than fashion, until a moment of revelation at 18 when he saw an exhibition of Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto's work.

After some tricky early years, he set up his own label in 2017. Three years later, he won the top prize of the National Association for the Development of the Fashion Arts, and joined the Paris Fashion Week line-up.

Traore wants other locals to follow in his footsteps, and has set up a training school alongside his workshop, which he dreams could one day be the fashion equivalent of Barcelona FC's fabled football training academy, la Masia.

"From the start, we took people who had never done any sewing, who had applied just like that. But I had a blast and decided to make it a real diploma course," he said.

There were immediate successes, with one of his first students winning an LVMH graduate prize, and others joining Chanel, Dior, Pierre Cardin and others.

Busying over an organza bustier, one of the current crop, 26-year-old Zouleha Mandzomana, is all praise for Traore.

"He really tries to push us to our limits and not stay in our little suburbs settling for whatever," said Mandzomana, who dreams of joining Chanel, one of the houses that supports the school.

As for Traore, he dreams of the opposite, of one day bringing the fashion world to him -- of seeing President Emmanuel Macron and Vogue supremo Anna Wintour on the front row of a show in his neighbourhood.

"With all these debates in France about immigration and blah blah blah... I want to show that there's also a positive side to immigration, that the banlieue can be a laboratory for talent and creativity."

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Blinken had also visited Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cape Verde on a week-long trip meant to demonstrate a sustained US interest in the continent, as China and Russia gain influence and the Israel-Hamas war consumes Washington's attention.

Once a Marxist state battling US-backed rebels in the Cold War, Angola has transitioned into an oil-rich democracy and works increasingly closely with the United States.

In the capital Luanda, Blinken reviewed what he called faster-than-expected work on the Lobito Corridor, the most ambitious US infrastructure project on a continent where China has gone on a building blitz in its search for resources.

"This project has genuinely transformative potential for this nation, for this region and, I would argue, for the world," Blinken said.

The corridor aims to connect landlocked Zambia, which has been held up by Washington as a model of democracy, as well as the resource-rich but underdeveloped Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to Angola's Atlantic port of Lobito.

The United States has committed to fund 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) of rail and is working with partners including multinational lenders to expand the project eventually to Tanzania, connecting the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

The route will transport resources critical to the global economy including copper and cobalt, a vital component of smartphones.

Blinken also toured a gleaming new science museum where he promoted another US initiative that will bring resilient seeds, including potentially genetically modified ones, to developing countries.

Standing in front of a table of yams and cassava, Blinken -- who two days earlier visited a rice project in Ivory Coast -- said that traditional African seeds are "incredibly nutritious, and they can now be made even more resistant to the ravages of climate change".

"Then we get to the point where Africa is feeding itself and, indeed, probably feeding other parts of the world," he said.

- Nudge on democracy -

President Joe Biden has vowed to  prioritise Africa but failed to live up to a promise to visit last year.

Blinken told reporters that Biden still wanted to come, but acknowledged the tight schedule with US elections later this year.

Contact with African leaders remains robust. Blinken held an extended meeting in Luanda with Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who met Biden at the White House just two months ago.

In contrast with China's approach, Blinken gently raised internal politics in Angola, saying he discussed the importance of holding local-level elections, which remain absent in Angola and for which the opposition has pressed.

He also called for a greater opening to independent media and welcomed the opening of a second journalism school in Angola as "an important and positive trajectory".

Many Africans have voiced unease about the West devoting billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine to defend against Russian invasion, fearing that development is being taken off the agenda.

Angola has historic relations with Moscow but Foreign Minister Tete Antonio on a visit last year by Russia's foreign minister also told him of concerns about a global escalation of conflict.

"There is an old adage that the best friend is the one who tells the truth," Antonio said alongside Blinken.

- 'Essential' Angola peace role -

Angola, no stranger to conflict, has taken a leading role alongside Kenya in seeking an end to unrest in the east of vast DRC.

Blinken said he spoke to Lourenco about "concrete" measures on DRC, calling Angola's role "essential" and saying the president was "trusted by all sides".

Talks in Luanda in late 2022 resulted in an agreement for a retreat in the DRC by M23, ethnic Tutsi rebels that Kinshasa says are backed by Rwanda.

But the insurgents have since taken more territory.

Blinken credited US-led efforts, including intelligence sharing, with ensuring calm in the long-turbulent DRC for December elections.

"Now that the election is done, we believe that it's an important moment to try to forge forward with diplomacy," Blinken said.

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Part of the team that lost to Lionel Messi and Argentina at the 2018 World Cup, Troost-Ekong is currently taking part in his third Africa Cup of Nations and he kept a remarkably cool head to score the decisive penalty in the 1-0 win over hosts Ivory Coast on Thursday.

That result left the three-time continental champions primed to clinch a spot in the last 16 when they play Guinea-Bissau in their last group game in Abidjan on Monday.

"It is so early still, but my belief in the team has stayed the same," the 30-year-old centre-back, who won his first cap in 2015, told AFP.

"If I look at the players we have now, I think it might be the best team I have played in for Nigeria. That is with all due respect to some of the legends that have been there."

Amid all the talk of Nigeria's fearsome attack, spearheaded by African footballer of the year Victor Osimhen, it was Nigeria's defence that perhaps surprisingly stood out against the Ivorians, with Troost-Ekong marshalling a five-man back line.

"I think we have the most exciting attack in Africa. We have the best player in Africa who is our number nine. But I was not surprised, I think I know what the defenders can do as well and I believe so much in this group," he said.

"I think we have maybe been underrated a little bit defensively."

Troost-Ekong, who is wearing boots at the AFCON made from bamboo and other sustainable materials, was born just outside Amsterdam to a Nigerian father and Dutch mother, and was capped at youth level by the Netherlands.

- 'Haven't looked back' -

He admits he dreamed of representing the Oranje senior team before a call from Stephen Keshi, then the Super Eagles coach, convinced him to pull on a Nigerian shirt.

"I watched a lot of football with my Dad. He was always watching the Super Eagles, but growing up in Holland, I also dreamt about playing for the Dutch national team," said the defender, who moved to the UK aged 12 to attend boarding school.

"But when I got the phone call from Stephen Keshi at the time, who was a player and a legend who I watched growing up as a kid, especially as a central defender, I was kind of taken aback, and for him to ask me to play for Nigeria, I didn't have to think twice.

"I think I said yes before I even had to think about anything or ask anyone because it just felt right, and I haven't looked back since.

"Something really feels right about playing for Nigeria."

Troost-Ekong, who has family in the southern city of Uyo as well as in Lagos, spent several months on holiday in Nigeria every year while growing up and says the country "felt very much like home and still does".

He has turned out for clubs all over Europe, notably playing in Serie A for Udinese and in the English Premier League for Watford.

However, he recently joined leading Greek side PAOK -– and opted to offset the carbon from the travel required to complete his transfer in another nod to the environment.

As he settles in Thessaloniki, he is now hoping this year to add some winners medals to the Olympic bronze he won with Nigeria in 2016.

"I have played in Serie A and in England, which are considered probably the top leagues, but for teams that are trying to stay in the league or to survive," said the player who is so heavily tattooed he claims to have lost count of how many he has.

"Now playing at PAOK it is different because the ambition there is to win the league, win the cup, and win the Europa Conference League.

"I am really enjoying it and I am hopeful that I can add some silverware to my career, here as well as back home."

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Here are some of the highlights from four days of shows in the French capital.

- Balletcore -

Ballet is hot right now.

Andie MacDowell's daughter, actress Margaret Qualley, in a neck ruff and white tights, was the catwalk star as Chanel marked 100 years since founder Gabrielle Chanel first dressed the Russian Ballet in Paris.

It came just a few days after Dior paid homage to ballet icon Rudolf Nureyev during the menswear week, and Chanel offered the ultra-chi-chi women's version, with lots of tutu skirts, translucent whites, leotards and dance pumps.

- Fendi, Dior fabrics -

Fendi's show, graced by Zendaya and Reese Witherspoon, in the front row, was one of the more delicately fabulous.

Shimmering, almost liquid, dresses in silk, sequin and mohair. Glasses that you wouldn't want to accidentally sit on, since they are made from 18-carat gold and white diamonds.

Designer Kim Jones said he was inspired by his predecessor Karl Lagerfeld's "futurism" but with "a humanism at the heart of this future".

Christian Dior, meanwhile, put on a varied show with everything from brown trenchcoats to white Grecian-goddess-style dresses and velvet pantsuits.

But there was an impressive tribute to a classic from the Dior archive, the La Cigale dress of 1952, and the unique rippling effect of its moire fabric.

- Eastern journeys -

France's Stephane Rolland recreated the atmosphere of a Marrakesh garden, with women dressed like Middle Eastern princesses in beige, gold and blue, set against a background of desert dunes and a soundtrack by trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf.

Rolland told AFP he was thinking about the collection before the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October and had decided to stick with it in order to promote "tolerance and positivity".

Giorgio Armani plucked ideas from all over the world to take an audience including Gwyneth Paltrow and Glenn Close on an "imagined journey from West to East" that included decorative peacock motifs and kimono-style gowns.

Rahul Mishra latest evocation of his native India was inspired by insects, with huge glittering moths and bees adorning some outfits, and several turbans and maharajah outfits in the collection.

- Theatrical Fournie -

One of the most spectacular shows came from Julien Fournie, who sought to recreate the atmosphere of fashion's heyday, packing out a Paris theatre for a tribute to vamps and femmes fatales.

Cocked bowler hats and beige trench coats recalled film noir classics and cabaret, alongside dizzying stiletto heels that tested the balance of the models as they put on much more of a show than the usual up-and-back catwalk strut.

Model Michaela Tomanova, seven months pregnant, stood out in a black gala dress made from a harness, while Fournie paid tribute to landmark styles over the past century, from suits to pencil skirts and big shoulders, all with modern twists.

"With this collection I wanted to return the joy, fantasy and lightness that we miss so much today," said Fournie, who joined the models on stage for an ecstatic finale in their arms.

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The 15-second meow-vie featuring an orange tabby named Taters is the first to be streamed from deep space, and demonstrates it's possible to transmit the higher-data-rate communications needed to support complex missions such as sending humans to Mars.

The video was beamed to Earth using a laser transceiver on the Psyche probe, which is journeying to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter to explore a mysterious metal-rich object. When it sent the video, the spaceship was 80 times the distance between the Earth and Moon.

The encoded near-infrared signal was received by the Hale Telescope at Caltech's Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, and from there sent to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.

"One of the goals is to demonstrate the ability to transmit broadband video across millions of miles. Nothing on Psyche generates video data, so we usually send packets of randomly generated test data," said Bill Klipstein, the tech demo's project manager at JPL.

"But to make this significant event more memorable, we decided to work with designers at JPL to create a fun video, which captures the essence of the demo as part of the Psyche mission."

Space missions have traditionally relied on radio waves to send and receive data, but working with lasers can increase the data rate by 10 to 100 times.

- Giant pounce for catkind -

The ultra-HD video took 101 seconds to send to Earth at the system's maximum bit rate of 267 megabits per second -- faster than most home broadband connections.

"In fact, after receiving the video at Palomar, it was sent to JPL over the internet, and that connection was slower than the signal coming from deep space," said Ryan Rogalin, the project's receiver electronics lead at JPL.

So why a cat video? First, there's the historic connection, said JPL. When American interest in television began growing in the 1920s, a statue of Felix the Cat was broadcast to serve as a test image.

And while cats may not claim the title as man's best friend, few can dispute their number-one position when it comes to internet videos and meme culture.

Uploaded before launch, the clip shows Tabby, the pet of a JPL employee, chasing a laser light on a couch, with test graphics overlayed. These include Psyche's orbital path and technical information about the laser and its data bit rate.

While laser transmission has been demonstrated in low Earth orbit and as far away as the Moon, the Psyche mission is the first time it's been deployed in deep space. Aiming a laser beam from millions of miles away requires extremely precise "pointing," a major technical hurdle engineering teams had to solve.

The technology demonstration even needs to compensate for the fact that in the time it takes for light to travel from the spacecraft to Earth, both the probe and the planet will have moved -- so the uplink and downlink lasers need to adjust for the change accordingly.

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The sunny sisters are one of Ukraine's best hopes of a gold medal at the Paris Olympics after winning a bronze in artistic swimming at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

But the trials the 22-year-old twins have been put through -- forced to flee their homes, surviving shelling and sleeping in bomb shelters -- have tested even their stoicism.

They have even had to jump out of the pool and "run to the basement in wet swimsuits" when the explosions got too close, Maryna told AFP.

Russian tanks were stopped in the suburbs of their hometown Kharkiv during the invasion almost two years ago, with the sisters having to leave their sparkly costumes behind when they were evacuated.

Regular bombardments have not stopped them from returning to Kharkiv to prepare for the Games, even if the windows of their training pool are still broken from the missile attacks the border city is often subjected to.

"Everything has been bombed: our pool, where we started training, our school, our city centre," added Maryna.

While the Ukrainian army eventually pushed the Russian troops back, Kharkiv is still vulnerable, only 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border. Last week, 11 people were killed in the latest wave of Russian missile attacks on the city.

It is not exactly the ideal environment for elite swimmers to go for gold, especially when there is no generator to warm the water when the power fails, as it often did last year after the country's electricity grid took a pounding from the Russians.

- Sleeping in bomb shelters -

AFP has been following the sisters on their turbulent path to Paris, an odyssey that has taken them from Kharkiv to Italy, France, Poland, Spain, Japan and back.

"When the war started, we did not know what to do," said Vladyslava, the shyer of the two, who often lets her twin Maryna finish her sentences.

"But then we understood our main goal could be to show courage all over the world in competitions."

"To show Ukraine is still alive," Maryna added. "We must show strength."

With the Russians threatening to take the city in the early days of the war, the sisters fled Kharkiv with the rest of Ukraine's artistic swimming team and trained in Italy for six months.

But they were determined to go back to Ukraine to be closer to their parents, training in Kyiv and "sleeping at night in the corridor of a bomb shelter" before returning to Kharkiv.

They have not left their home city -- the heart of Ukraine's artistic swimming scene -- since then, except for short trips abroad to compete.

Even if it is more dangerous, "it's much better to be together, (even) without electricity and music to train," Vladyslava told AFP during a break in the World Aquatics World Cup in France in May where they won the duet gold.

They visited Montpellier's historic centre to eat ice cream and post stories on Instagram to celebrate.

But even in those carefree moments when they joked about the joys of having electricity, the war was never far away.

"I called Mum yesterday, but it was an air raid alert and I was a little bit nervous," said Maryna at the time. "Mum and Dad said, 'Don't worry, we're fine.' So we tried to keep calm and concentrate on our competition."

When we caught up with the twins again in July at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, they struck an even more sombre note.

"It is hard to focus when your country is at war and you are away from family," Vladyslava admitted.

- Friends killed -

"We have friends who are sportsmen who died on the battlefield defending our country... it is an awful time for us."

Yet back on their sofa in Kharkiv on a rare day off in November, they did not turn a hair when the air raid siren sounded, even though Maryna's apartment is on the top floor and more exposed to shelling.

The sirens go off "five or six times every day" she said. "At night also. It's normal."

Every morning they read the news to see if it's safe to train, only going to the bomb shelter when it's really dangerous.

Vladyslava lives next door with her husband, an IT specialist, which is handy because "we always swap clothes, handbags, jackets, shoes," said Maryna.

On their lazy Sunday morning off -- the one day they do not have to train at 6:30 am -- the sisters wore jeans and jumpers and light makeup in contrast to the heavy warpaint they put on for performances.

Relaxing on the couch, they put on an Edith Piaf record from their grandfather's vinyl collection, which also included The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

Lying on a table nearby was Maryna's bronze Olympic medal from Tokyo. Vladyslava took hers with her when they fled to Italy because it was "the most dear to me".

"I was sure that they would be stars," said their childhood trainer, Maryna Krykunova, a tall, elegant woman in a tweed coat, who first came across them when they were eight years old.

Even then they were tall and supple and naturally in sync for duets, she told AFP.

With girls who are not siblings, "we have to spend a lot of time making them similar", she said.

"With Maryna and Vlada, they are already twins so it's much better."

Unsurprisingly, twins and even triplets are not uncommon in artistic swimming.

- New obstacle -

But what used to be an advantage for the sisters may not be a help after a controversial change last year to the way artistic swimming is judged, which has shifted the emphasis from artistic effect to more technical elements.

It is yet another obstacle for the twins as their team strives to qualify for the Paris Olympics, which start on July 26.

"Our coaches are unhappy with the change in the rules," Maryna said, which makes routines look "very unartistic and awkward".

"We must do everything possible so everything is perfect," said Vladyslava.

The last qualifying rounds are at the world championships in Qatar next month, with the team building up for the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade in June, a dress rehearsal for the Games the following month.

"This is the most important time in our lives," said Vladyslava, adding that they were having to prepare in "unequal conditions" compared to their rivals.

Russia, which has traditionally dominated the sport, will not be competing at the Olympics after its teams were banned over the invasion.

But individual Russian athletes who have not taken a strongly pro-war stance will be able to compete as neutrals, the International Olympic Committee ruled.

Ukraine's foreign ministry condemned the decision, and the sisters have also spoken out, telling AFP in April that it was "maybe better to not allow a terrorist country that killed our sportsmen (to participate)."

But they have since softened their stance, fearing Ukraine could boycott the Games.

Vladyslava said it would be "stupid that they (the Russians) can go -- having killed people -- and we didn't do anything and we can't go."

"We've been training every day for seven hours and we have a goal... to show the courage of our country to the whole world," said Vladyslava.

A medal in Paris would be the ultimate riposte to their Russian competitors who messaged them in the first days of the invasion telling them, "Don't worry, we will save you... it's a safety operation."

"You're crazy," Maryna replied. "I invite you to Kharkiv and you will see how my home town is now... everything has been bombed."

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© Agence France-Presse