The 2024-25 figure skating season for Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi began with questions marks.

But it ended with an exclamation point.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara: “After winning the Olympic gold medal, we realized it would be difficult to return our physical and mental condition to the pre-Olympic level in time for Worlds,

Suffice it to say, the pairs world champions from Japan are back – just in time for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic campaign.

“We’ve been through a lot together in competitions, especially dealing with the injuries,” Kihara said in a conversation with Olympics.com following the ISU World Team Trophy 2025 in Tokyo, where he and Miura wrapped up their first season – yes, first – in which they did not pull out from a single event due to injury.

“The mistakes we made after the last Worlds we won helped us mature a lot. We’re calm and collected now. We’re grateful that we have the bull’s eye on our back again.

“For us, the world title we won is not a burden. We’ve let go of it already. It’s behind us now.”