A Team of One—Story of Skating Pair "RikuRyu"
Translation: Ale Tang
In the sports world, what truly moves people is always the story behind the medal—like the story of Japanese pair skaters and 2026 Winter Olympics champions Riku Miura and Ryūichi Kihara, or affectionately "RikuRyū" (りくりゅう, the portmanteau of the duo, created by the Japanese public and media by combining the first syllables of their first names).
It's always a long story, especially for Ryūichi, not that simply because he's older—he started competing in the skating world since 2011 and encountered all the typical difficulties that most athletes have to faced, injuries, split with partner after unimpressive results, struggles between sport dream and pressure from reality. But when he was on the brink of retiring in 2019, he met Riku, a pair skater who happened to attend a seminar nearby with her coach Bruno Marcotte.
"This is destiny" (運命だな), the exactly wordings that Ryūichi used to describe the way their hands fit together.
After the first skating tryout that felt like "lightning struck" (雷が落ちた), the duo decided to team up. Then it's seven years of partnership and podium sweep. After winning a historic gold in Milano Cortina, RikuRyū announced their retirement from competition in April 2026.
But what's never changed, just like how citizens love to talk about the closeness between the two, is the inspiration Riku and Ryūichi have given to the world—their relationship of trust.
During the Milano 2026, the pair initially finished fifth in the short programme after an error on a lift. Every audience could see through screen how Ryūichi broke down in tears in front of the camera—an ultra rare scene for Japanese athletes, who are known for maintaining composure on cam—which fully exposed his mental stress.
It's the 33-year-old's fourth Olympics. Likely his last one in this injury-prone career, too.
After the imperfect programme, Ryūichi was inconsolable and his tears kept running down, even during breakfast and their warm-up practice for the long programme on the next day (revealed later in a TV feature).
That's when a real partner lends a hand (pretty literally for RikuRyū). Seeing how devastated was Ryūichi, "the little one" Riku stepped up as the "big sister" and acted as the pillar of strength and support for the pair. Right before the long programme match, Riku encouraged Ryūichi, telling him "It's not over yet", and
I'm going to skate for you today.
And Ryūichi said, "we're going to skate for each other."
The mindset brought them a dramatic comeback, to the top of the Olympic podium. With a new world's record score 158.13.
It's not just a partnership to remember. RikuRyū taught us one thing: a real partner is not someone who shares the gold with you; it's someone who shares your responsibility and difficulties, who steps up to raise you up.
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