Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi have made history for Japanese figure skating.
The duo captured the skating-rich nation its first-ever pairs world title on Thursday (23 March) at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan, overcoming minor errors in their free skate to total a 222.16.
The duo engulfed one another as their winning scores came through, joined by Toronto-based coach Bruno Marcotte. They were silver medallists at Worlds a year ago.
Defending world champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the U.S. finished with the silver, scoring 217.48, while Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii won their country its first pairs world medal with a 208.08.
"We are incredibly thrilled about the season we’ve had, but we never thought we could do it," an honest Kihara told the the Saitama Super Arena crowd. "Just before the season, Riku got hurt which brought about some challenges, but they only strengthened our bond. Our trust, our relationship only grew tighter.
"This season, our goal was the World Championships and we poured our heart and soul into it," an emotional Miura added. "I didn't think that I was able to come here after [a shoulder] injury. It's all thanks to my teammate and our coaches."
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada were fourth (199.97), while Americans Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe rounded out the top five (194.73).
Miura/Kihara completed a golden season, capturing all three Grand Prix events - including the Grand Prix Final and then last month's Four Continents Championships. They were the first Japanese pair to win either of those ISU events, but the world title takes them into the next stratosphere. Japanese media have deemed the golden accomplishment "the Grand Slam."
"I'm so proud of them; it could not happen to two nicer people who work so hard," their coach Marcotte said. "They're never satisfied, they always want to improve. It's more about the performance than the result, but I told them to enjoy the moment. To accomplish this at home, that's probably something that will never happen again."
- Figure Skating Worlds: Full results and scores - updated
- How Miura/Kihara soared to the top of pair skating
- Women: Sakamoto Kaori on cusp of back-to-back titles
- Shae-Lynn Bourne: Knierim/Frazier present in the moment
Miura/Kihara: World champions battle in gritty free skate
While gold was draped over their necks at the finish of the pairs event, nothing was a given for the Japanese duo as it took the ice for the final skate of the afternoon. Knierim/Frazier were just off their personal best score, with Frazier singling a planned double toe-loop in their side-by-side combo and Knierim hanging on to a triple Salchow later in the program.
The Japanese were entirely strong in their free, with only Miura doubling a planned triple Salchow, but the team moving through their "Atlas: Two"/"Shared Tenderness" program in front of an enraptured home Japanese crowd.
It was on their final throw triple loop that Miura took a hard fall, the two shaking off the blip to finish well. As the crowd rose to its feet, Miura broke down in tears, seemingly convinced they had lost the title with that error.
But their six-point lead from the short program held, with Knierim/Frazier winning the free 142.84 and the Japanese just behind with 141.44.
Miura/Kihara won Japan its first medal in the discipline a year ago with a silver behind Knierim/Frazier. The country has been dominant in singles, but the duo sees their world title as a new chapter for it in pair skating.
"If boys or girls want to take on the challenge of skating pairs, that would be appreciated," Kihara told reporters. "If today could become a trigger or become a founding point for pairs... in 10 years or 20 years if we could look back and say today was the turning point, that would be for very good."
The U.S. duo was competing without their coach, Todd Sand, who suffered from a heart attack earlier this month and has remained home in California to continue his recovery. "We're very proud of our performance," Frazier said. "We're proud of the passion and the way that we performed both of our pgorams. We had some mistakes, but we're very fulfilled and proud of the fight that we showed this week."
Conti/Macii were also thrilled with their, in particular with Milano Cortina 2026 looming in the distance.
"It's an incredible emotion," Macii said. "The skate today wasn't our super best skate; our legs were still, really stiff. We felt that we could lose the third place. We fought and we were happy that we fought the way that we did."
