[2] Coached by Vasilii Velikov in Saint Petersburg,[1] Akhanteva/Kolesov made their international debut in late August 2016, placing seventh at the Junior Grand Prix (JGP) competition in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

In November, they won the junior silver medal at the Volvo Open Cup, finishing second behind their teammates Nika Osipova / Aleksandr Galiamov.

In April, they took silver at the Russian Youth Championships – Elder Age, where they finished second to Amina Atakhanova / Nikita Volodin and ahead of Apollinariia Panfilova / Dmitry Rylov.

Ranked second in the short and third in the free, they won the bronze medal in Bratislava, Slovakia, contributing to a Russian sweep of the pairs' podium.

[3] In September, they outscored their teammates and training partners, Polina Kostiukovich / Dmitrii Ialin, by about four points for gold at the JGP in Ostrava, Czech Republic, where they were second in the short program and first in the free skate.

Ranked second in the short and second in the free, they finished 15 points behind the gold medalists Apollinariia Panfilova / Dmitry Rylov, in part due to costly jumping errors in both programs.

Ranked first in the short program and first in the free skate, they finished eight points ahead of silver medalists Iuliia Artemeva / Mikhail Nazarychev, and led a Russian sweep of the pairs' podium at their home JGP.