Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara delivered a thrilling comeback at the Milano Cortina Games, storming back from fifth place after a shaky short program to capture Japan's first Olympic figure skating pairs title on Monday.

The Japanese government on Tuesday welcomed its first Olympic gold medal in pairs figure skating, won by Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihar

The Olympic figure skating pairs competition ended with Japan taking gold and Team USA getting two top 10 finishes. See full results, highlights.

Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara soared from fifth place to Olympic gold with a world-record free skate on Monday. See full pairs results, medalists and dramatic highlights from Milano-Cortina.

By Lori Ewing MILAN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara delivered a thrilling comeback at the Milano Cortina Games, storming from fifth place after a shaky short programme to capture Japan's first Olympic figure skating pairs title on Monday.

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

Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany took a sizable lead in the Olympic pairs figure skating short program in Milano-Cortina, topping a tightly contested field ahead of Monday’s free skate.

The teams of Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan, and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, were knocked out of podium contention before the competition ended.

Apparently skiing backwards is becoming a new fad these days. The 2026 Olympics have been wild so far, and Japan’s Ikuma Horishima’s insane finish to the downhill dual moguls event was just the next on the list.