MILAN – Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan secured the gold medal in pairs figure skating at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games on Monday, staging a dramatic comeback after a disappointing short program left them in fifth place. Their free skate, earning a season’s best 158.13 points and a total score of 231.24, propelled them to the top of the podium at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
The victory marks a historic moment for Japan, claiming their first-ever Olympic medal in pairs figure skating. Kihara, speaking through a translator, expressed disbelief at the turnaround. “We still can’t believe that this has happened after yesterday’s performance,” he said. “We were quite disappointed with what happened, but we’re really happy with how we skated today. It’s a little bit of a disbelief that we were able to get a medal for Japan in pair skating for the first time ever, and we hope that our performance tonight is going to lead the Japan skating community into the future to perform better and better moving forward.”
Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava claimed silver with a total score of 221.75, earning their nation’s first Olympic medal in the event. Berulava described the moment as “the best day in my life,” adding, “I’m so very happy with our performance today — amazing moment for my country.” Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took bronze with 219.09 points.
The Japanese pair’s path to gold was far from assured after a stumble during their short program. A botched lift resulted in a Level 2 assessment and a deduction of 2.30 points, leaving them nearly seven points behind the leading German team of Hase and Volodin. Despite the setback, coach Bruno Marcotte remained optimistic, telling a disheartened Kihara, “It’s not over.”
Hase and Volodin had led after the short program, building on a strong history of German success in pairs skating, which dates back to winning the first Olympic title in 1908 when figure skating was part of the Summer Olympics. However, they were unable to maintain their lead in the free skate. Hase, despite the disappointment of missing gold, displayed sportsmanship, embracing Miura and Kihara after their performance. “I was also really happy for them,” she said to Eurosport. “The two of them were fantastic that evening, setting a world record in their free skate.”
The result comes after Miura and Kihara’s success at the World Championships, where they won gold in 2023 and 2024, following a silver medal in 2022. They also contributed to Japan’s silver medal in the team event at these Games, and previously earned a silver medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The Japanese breakthrough in pairs skating follows decades of limited success in the discipline, with the nation historically overshadowed by Russia, China, Canada, and the United States.
The pairs event saw a challenging short program for several contenders, with the chaotic nature of the competition leaving some of the top teams skating early and struggling to contend for the podium. The competition continues with the women’s free skate, featuring Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, and Isabeau Levito.
