Milan –
After a disappointing short program, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara knew they’d have to be at their best in the pairs free skate to have any hope of a medal.
They delivered — and then some.
Miura and Kihara put together their best free skate of the year on Monday, earning 158.13 points, thunderous applause from the crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena and, most importantly, an Olympic gold medal.
The pair, which helped lead Japan to silver in the team competition last week, had a mistake-free skate and enthralled the capacity crowd from their opening triple toeloop, double axel, double axel sequence right through to the end of their four-minute routine.
When it was over, the two skaters embraced on the ice and let their emotions spill out.
The massive free skate score gave them 231.24 points and vaulted them into first with four pairs to come.
None were able to close the gap.
Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava took silver for their country’s first-ever Winter Olympic medal with 221.75 points.
Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin grabbed bronze with 219.09.
