Figure Skating: Olympic Champions Miura and Kihara Announce Their Retirement

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, two-time figure skating world pairs champions affectionately known as "RikuRyu" to their legions of fans in Japan, have retired.

The dynamic duo made an announcement on Friday, April 17.

In what turned out to be their final competition, Miura and Kihara captured the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics on February 16.

Sitting in fifth place after the short program that included a costly mistake on a lift, RikuRyu bounced back in glorious fashion with a world-record pairs free skate total of 158.13 points. Their mutual trust and strong partnership, built and strengthened since their debut as a pairs tandem in 2019, paid off.

In Milan, they became Japan's first Olympic pairs champions on ice.

Two months later, Miura and Kihara said they've concluded their career in pairs competitions.

"We feel deeply grateful to all of you who have supported us from the beginning of our partnership," they announced in a statement posted on social media, Olympics.com reported. " 'RikuRyu' could not have competed for as long as we have without the help of people around us.

"Whenever we faced challenges, someone was right there extending a helping hand. Each and every one of those acts of support made us stronger and helped us get to where we are today."

The Japanese pair also expressed abundant appreciation for Canadian coach Bruno Marcotte. He provided years of figure skating expertise and instruction.

"You always believed in us, guided us with positivity, and for that we will forever be grateful," Miura and Kihara noted in their joint statement.

Retiring with 'No Regrets'

In December 2019, they showcased their talent by winning their first Japan Championships title in Tokyo.

Miura and Kihara won their first world title in March 2023 at Saitama Super Arena, becoming the first Japanese duo to claim the gold in pairs in the global competition.

Their spectacular 2022-23 season, a snapshot of their career, also included victories at Skate Canada, the NHK Trophy, the Grand Prix Final and the Four Continents Championships.

They also collected silver at the world championships in 2022 and 2024 before returning to the top in 2025 in Boston.

Miura, 24, and Kihara, 33, who have lived and trained in Ontario, Canada, for seven years, said it's time to close this chapter of their lives.

"While our competitive careers are coming to an end, we truly feel that we gave it our all, and have no regrets," they said in the statement. "We are proud of everything we went through, and feel we gained so much along the way.

"The two of us will now take on new challenges so that we can bring wider recognition to pairs skating in Japan. We hope that we can count on you to follow us on our journey."

Miura, Kihara Skipped the 2026 World Championships

After winning the Olympic title, Miura and Kihara sat out the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships, which was held in late March in Prague.

They announced that they hadn't planned to participate "even before the season began." Instead, the Olympic competition was their planned final event of the 2025-26 campaign.

Nothing changed after their record-setting free skate in Milan.

"Having won the gold medal at the Olympics, we judged that it would be difficult to immediately restore our physical and mental condition to pre-Olympic form for the world championships," read a portion of their announcement. "Therefore, we have decided to withdraw."

Reactions From the World of Figure Skating

On Friday, the International Skating Union paid tribute to Miura and Kihara on its Instagram page.

"The world will miss you, RikuRyu," read the Instagram post. "Wishing [the] two of you a bright future in your new challenges!"

On Reddit, a threat about their retirement had generated 140 comments by 8:40 PM JST on April 17.

"I'm so glad they got their perfect Olympic moment and that performance will forever go down in history as one of the greatest we've ever seen," wrote one Reddit commenter.

"Not many can say they went out [on] top and their final performance to be that epic shows they gave everything left in them for it. I can see them being amazing joint coaches to a pairs team and back at the Olympics with them in a few years!"

Author: Ed Odeven

Follow Ed's [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and he can be found on X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.