Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara: “We’re like two halves of a whole. Being able to skate together is truly a blessing”
Translation of Riku Miura’s and Ryuichi Kihara’s comments about returning to competitions after the injury.
original source: number.bunshun.jp dd.13th February 2024 by Yoshie Noguchi
Here’s a translation of Riku Miura’s and Ryuichi Kihara’s comments from the interview posted on Sports Graphic Number Web.
The pair missed the first half of the season due to Ryuichi’s lumbar spondylolysis. Four Continents Championships became their first competition in four months. After the free skate, Ryuichi said, I did my best!' to which Riku smiled kindly and thanked him for his efforts,You did your best, thank you.’
They recalled the period when Riku couldn’t train last season and Miura had to train alone. “I mainly practiced singles at Chukyo University and Minato, doing jumps, skating, and skating alone with music playing.”
During their time apart, Miura once visited Chukyo University to watch Kihara practice. “I felt really sorry for leaving him alone to practice in Japan. Seeing Ryuichi practicing alone with music playing made me realize again, ‘Ah, I can’t be there.'” This season they felt the same way. “We’re like two halves of a whole,” said Kihara. “Being able to skate together is truly a blessing,” added Miura.
“Ryuichi is working very hard on his rehabilitation, and I myself am also training alongside him. Our coach told us that if one of us were to focus solely on rehabilitation while the other trained elsewhere, we might start to wonder, ‘Is that person really practicing properly?’ So, we were told, ‘Let’s get stronger together,’ said Riku Miura.
Kihara continues, “Yes, it’s not about one of us pulling the weaker one along, but about both of us getting stronger together.’ We were told that this way, we could become even stronger.”
As for the participation in the Four Continents Championships, Kihara told, “At the end of December, we discussed that we’re aiming for the Four Continents Championships. We finally started practicing pair elemts in the second week of January, did a full run-through of the short program two weeks ago, and last week we did the free skate for the first time. The preparation time was short, but first, we need to compete to understand our current level. Regardless of rankings or scores, we decided to compete to assess our current state.”
Regarding the change of the short program to “Dare You to Move,” Kihara also mentioned, “After the season started, we weren’t sure about our strengths, so we decided to start over. The original song has lyrics, but we’re using a violin version. The original lyrics are about ‘standing up again,’ and we wanted to convey the message of ‘let’s climb back up again.'”
Related topics: Riku Miura Ryuichi Kihara
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