Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara: “At the Olympics, we were 5th after the short program, and I was frustrated and said, ‘Should we go for another four years? I can’t end it like this.’ But after giving everything in the free skate, we felt a sense of completion.”
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara held a press conference in Tokyo to announce their retirement, reflecting on their journey, reasons for retiring, and plans to continue performing as professionals.
original source: Nikkansports 28th April 2026 by Daisuke Fujitsuka
Riku Miura (24) and Ryuichi Kihara (33) of the Kinoshita Group began their retirement press conference at a Tokyo hotel on the 28th. Here’s a translation of their comments posted on Nikkansports.
At the start, Miura began, “On this occasion, we…” and within three seconds, Kihara was in tears. After Miura laughed and said, “Don’t cry, don’t cry,” she continued, “From the very beginning, we were able to keep going thanks to the support of so many people,” expressing a sense of fulfillment. Kihara, his voice trembling, added, “Good morning, everyone… With this season, we have decided to retire. Thank you so much to everyone who supported us, especially our always positive coach Bruno. I don’t have any special talent, but thanks to all the people who supported us, we were able to come this far.”
Regarding the reason for their decision to retire, Miura explained, “From the start of this season, I had a feeling that I might retire. At the Milan Olympics, we were fifth after the short program, and I was frustrated and said, ‘Should we go for another four years? I can’t end it like this.’ But after giving everything in the free skate, I felt a sense of completion.” Kihara also revealed, “I was thinking Milan would be the end, and when I returned to Japan, I discussed various things with our team president,” noting that this was in March.
Specifically, after winning their second world title at the 2025 World Championships in Boston last season, they began to talk about the possibility that this season might be their last. Kihara admitted, “Until now, I couldn’t say it honestly, but that’s why we chose the legendary free program ‘Gladiator’ for this season.”
As for their future, Kihara reported, “We plan to work as professionals from now on. Since we had limited opportunities to perform as a pair in front of Japanese fans, we want to travel to various places this year and show our skating.”
At the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February, they made a dramatic comeback from fifth place in the short program, overturning a 6.90-point deficit in the free skate to win Japan’s first-ever gold medal in pairs. This achievement followed in the footsteps of Shizuka Arakawa (2006, women’s singles) and Yuzuru Hanyu (2014, 2018, men’s singles) in Japanese figure skating history.
They skipped the World Championships in March and announced their retirement on social media on the 17th, writing together, “We are filled with a sense of accomplishment and have no regrets. Everything up to now is a source of pride and a precious asset.”
On the 25th, they participated in the “Thank You Parade” for the Japanese Olympic and Paralympic teams in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. After the event, they announced their intention to work as professional skaters. Since forming their pair in 2019, they have been based in Oakville, Canada. Kihara commented, “During our competitive careers, we had limited opportunities to perform in front of Japanese audiences. We want to make pair skating more familiar. I hope to share more details next week,” indicating that more information would be provided at this press conference.
Related topics: Riku Miura Ryuichi Kihara
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