04/17/26 09:36:00
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04/17 04:20 CDT Olympic pairs figure skating gold medalists Riku Miura and
Ryuichi Kihara retire
Olympic pairs figure skating gold medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara retire
By JAMES ELLINGWORTH
AP Sports Writer
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara announced their retirement from figure skating on
Friday, two months after winning the Olympic gold medal with a record-breaking
skate.
Miura and Kihara, known to fans as "RikuRyu," leave the skating world at their
peak after surging from fifth place to first at the Milan Cortina Olympics with
a world-record free skate that more than made up for earlier errors.
They became the first Japanese pair to win Olympic gold, a breakthrough in a
country whose figure skating passion had until then largely focused on the
individual events.
"While our competitive careers are coming to an end, we truly feel that we gave
it our all, and have no regrets. We are proud of everything we went through,
and feel we gained so much along the way," they posted on Instagram.
"The two of us will now take on new challenges so that we can bring wider
recognition to pair skating in Japan. We hope that we can count on you to
follow us on our journey."
The 24-year-old Miura and 33-year-old Kihara's announcement came on the same
day that they met Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at a spring
garden party at the Akasaka Palace's imperial garden in Tokyo.
Based out of Canada with coach Bruno Marcotte, Miura and Kihara won the world
title in 2023 and 2025, and two Olympic team event silver medals for Japan.
The Milan Cortina Olympic free skate was the last competitive performance for
Miura and Kihara, who skipped last month's world championships, where Minerva
Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin won pairs gold for Germany.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
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