- Georgia’s Anastasia Metelkina, Luka Berulava won the silver
MILAN – Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won Japan’s first gold medal in pairs figure skating at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Monday, jumping four places from the short program with a world-record free skate performance.
The world champion pair scored 158.13 points, the highest-ever mark, for their free program for a total of 231.24, finishing 9.49 points ahead of silver medalists Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia at Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany won bronze with a 219.09 total.
The Japanese pair’s victory marked a dramatic turnaround from Sunday’s short program, when they failed to execute their high-scoring signature lift and finished in fifth place, 6.90 points behind segment winners Hase and Volodin.
Miura and Kihara had no such problems with their longer routine, staying in sync as they completed their technical elements without a hitch.
“It still hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Miura said. “After the mistake we made yesterday, I’m just so happy that we were able to regroup and show the strength we’ve built up over all these years. That means more to me than anything.”
Their gold medal is Japan’s first in the event at the Olympics and fourth ever in Olympic figure skating. They follow Shizuka Arakawa, who won the women’s title at the 2006 Turin Games, and Yuzuru Hanyu, who was men’s champion in 2014 in Sochi and 2018 in Pyeongchang.
The pair also contributed to Japan winning its second straight team figure skating silver medal earlier in the games.
Miura, from western Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, and Kihara, a native of Aichi Prefecture in central Japan, came together as a pair in 2019.
They placed seventh at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and won their first world championship the following year. After finishing runners-up at the 2024 worlds, they reclaimed the title last year.
Both have battled injuries in the lead-up to the Milan Cortina Games. They withdrew from last December’s national championships after Miura hurt her shoulder during the short program.
With the 33-year-old Kihara inconsolable after their poor short program in Milan, it was left to the younger Miura to pick the pair up.
“Ryuichi is normally the one who takes the lead, but he was crying all the time (yesterday), so this time I had to act as the big sister,” she said.
An emotional Kihara paid tribute to his partner for getting their gold medal campaign back on track.
“Four years ago, I was the one who pushed us forward, but Riku saved me here,” he said. “I thought it was all over after yesterday, but Riku took the lead and we are able to come back. It’s great that we kept going.”
With 18 medals at the games in northern Italy, Japan has equaled its best Winter Olympic haul, set four years ago at the Beijing Games. Its four gold medals also equal its best at a Winter Games outside Japan.
BY: The Times Union – KYODO
