Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara have delivered Japan’s first Olympic gold medal in pairs skating MILAN — Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara thought their chances of Olympic gold had gone by the wayside when the Japanese skaters made an uncharacteristic slip-up during their short program at the Milan Cortina Games .

Japan won its first Olympic pairs gold and Georgia earned its first Winter Games medal at Milan Cortina 2026, rewriting figure skating history.

Japan's Mari Fukada wins gold, and Kokomo Murase took home the bronze.

The Olympic Team Event came down to the final skater on Sunday. In front of a packed house inside the Milano Ice Skating arena, the United States narrowly defeated Japan for its second consecutive team gold.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara stormed back from fifth place to capture Japan's first Olympic figure skating pairs title on Monday.