Ryuichi Kihara looked crestfallen as he left the ice after the Olympic pairs short program Sunday, knowing his big mistake on a lift would be costly for him and his partner, Riku Miura.
The team’s coach, Bruno Marcotte, quickly tried to temper Kihara’s disappointment, which would increase when he heard the scores that put the reigning world champions in fifth place heading into Monday’s free skate.
“It’s not over,” Marcotte insisted to Kihara, then repeated. “It’s not over.”
How right he was.
And how different Kihara’s emotions were when it was over, even if someone watching without knowing the context might have wondered why he was bawling, his face contorted by the tears of joy just a few hours after he had finished crying tears of distress.
He, too, would repeat himself. Kihara cried on the ice following a flawless and compellingly powerful free skate to music from “Gladiator,” then cried again upon realizing that a world record free skate score of 158.13 had turned a seven-point deficit into a nearly 10-point triumph over Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia.
It made them the first Japanese to win any Olympic pairs medal.
“Coming here, we were extremely confident,” Marcotte said.
That confidence only grew when Miura and Kihara dominated both pairs programs in the team event, racking up a personal best score (82.84 and 155.54) in each, helping Japan win a silver medal, just as they had done at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
That belief flagged after Kihara bollixed the dismount of a lift, their third of seven elements in the short program. It dropped them below second place in a short program for the first time in four seasons with their lowest score (73.11) in 12 competitions dating to November 2024.
“I was in despair,” Kihara said. “I couldn’t stop crying, even at practice this morning. I didn’t know how I was going to get myself up again.
“I’m so grateful to Riku. Normally, I’m the stronger one. This time around, Riku really supported me.”
