Riku Miura

Riku Miura (Japanese: 三浦 璃来; born December 17, 2001) is a Japanese pair skater. With her skating partner, Ryuichi Kihara, she is the 2022 World silver medalist, 2022–23 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time ISU Grand Prix gold medalist, the 2021 CS Autumn Classic champion, and the 2020 Japanese national champion. They also are bronze medalists in the team event at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Riku Miura
Miura/Ichihashi at the 2017 World Junior Championships
Personal information
Native name	三浦 璃来
Country represented	Japan
Born	(2001-12-17) December 17, 2001 (age 21) Takarazuka, Hyōgo, Japan
Home town	Takarazuka, Hyōgo
Height	1.45 m (4 ft 9 in)
Partner	Ryuichi Kihara
Former partner	Shoya Ichihashi
Coach	Bruno Marcotte Meagan Duhamel Brian Shales
Former coach	Richard Gauthier Utako Wakamatsu Yukiyasu Oishi Takeshi Honda
Choreographer	Julie Marcotte
Former choreographer	Valérie Saurette Allie Hann-McCurdy
Skating club	Osaka SC
Training locations	Oakville, Ontario
Former training locations	Osaka, Japan
Began skating	2010
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	216.16 2022 NHK Trophy
Short program	78.25 2022 NHK Trophy
Free skate	141.04 2022 Winter Olympics
Medal record Representing  Japan Pairs' figure skating (with Kihara) Olympic Games 2022 Beijing Team World Championships 2022 Montpellier Pairs Grand Prix Final 2022–23 Torino Pairs World Team Trophy 2021 Osaka Team Representing  Japan Pairs' figure skating (with Ichihashi) World Team Trophy 2019 Fukuoka Team

With her former skating partner, Shoya Ichihashi, she competed in the final segment at three World Junior Championships (2017–19).

Personal life

Miura was born in Takarazuka, Hyōgo.^[1]

She enjoys doing karate in her spare time.^[2] Her figure skating idol is Sui Wenjing.^[3]

Career

Partnership with Ichihashi

With her skating partner, Shoya Ichihashi, she has represented Japan at four ISU Championships. The two finished tenth at the 2018 Four Continents Championships in Taipei, Taiwan, and at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.^[1] Their partnership ended in July 2019.^[3]

Partnership with Kihara

2019–20 season: Debut of Miura/Kihara

In August 2019, it was announced that Miura had teamed up with Ryuichi Kihara and that the pair would train in Oakville, Ontario at the Skate Oakville Skating Club under Bruno Marcotte, Meagan Duhamel, and Brian Shales.^[3][2]

Miura/Kihara made their international competitive debut at 2019 NHK Trophy, where they finished fifth.^[4] They were the only pair competing at the 2019–20 Japan Championships and had two falls in the short program.^[5] The free skate proved more successful, allowing them to claim the Japanese national title and assignments to the ISU championships in the second half of the season.^[6]

After an eighth-place finish at the 2020 Four Continents Championships, Miura/Kihara were assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.^[7]

2020–21 season

Miura/Kihara were assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate Canada International, but this event was cancelled due to the pandemic.^[8] Making their season debut at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, they placed tenth.^[9] They finished the season at the 2021 World Team Trophy, where they finished third in both segments, helping Team Japan to the bronze medal.^[10][11][12]

2021–22 season: Beijing Olympics and World silver

Miura/Kihara spent the period after the World Team Trophy training in Japan and the United States before returning to Canada in September upon the reopening of the borders. They began their season at the 2021 CS Autumn Classic International, where they won both segments of competition and set new personal bests to take the gold medal overall.^[13]

At their first Grand Prix assignment of the season, the 2021 Skate America, Miura/Kihara again scored new personal bests in both segments of competition, as well as overall. Despite placing third in both the short program and the free skate, due to shifting ordinals from their competitors, the team won the silver medal between Russian competitors Tarasova/Morozov in first and Boikova/Kozlovskii in third. Their medal marks the first medal for Japan in the pairs event on the Grand Prix circuit since 2011.^[14][15] Competing at the 2021 NHK Trophy at home for their second event, they were third in both programs to take the bronze medal. They finished less than four points behind silver medalists Tarasova/Morozov, a gap more than accounted for by jump and throw errors by Miura. She noted training issues and expressed dissatisfaction that she had been unable to fix the problem but that they were nevertheless satisfied to have achieved their goal of winning a medal.^[16] Miura/Kihara's results qualified them to the Grand Prix Final, but it was subsequently cancelled due to restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant.^[17]

Due to the Omicron variant, Miura/Kihara did not travel to Japan to participate in the 2021–22 Japan Championships but were instead named directly to the Japanese Olympic team. They began the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Japanese entries in the Olympic team event. They placed fourth in the short program, securing seven points for the Japanese team.^[18] They placed second in the free skate, securing nine points for the Japanese team, which went on to win the bronze medal. This was the first time that Japan had taken a medal in the team event, and Miura/Kihara's presence as a strong pair team was widely cited as the biggest factor in Japan's increased competitiveness.^[19] In the pairs event, Miura doubled her triple jump attempt in the short program, as a result of which they placed eighth in the segment.^[20] In the free skate, they finished fifth in the segment, rising to seventh place overall.^[21]

Days after the Olympics concluded, Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, as a result of which the International Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian skaters from competing at the 2022 World Championships. As well, the Chinese Skating Association opted not to send athletes to compete in Montpellier. As those countries' athletes comprised the entirety of the top five pairs at the Olympics, this hugely impacted the field, and Miura/Kihara entered as medal favourites.^[22] In the short program, Miura put a hand down after stepping out on their throw triple Lutz, but they finished third in the segment, taking a bronze small medal.^[23] They had a rough free skate, with errors on both jumping passes and Miura falling on a throw triple loop. They also finished third in that segment but took the silver medal overall. They became the second Japanese pair team to win a World medal. Miura opined afterward, "now we secure the medal, but I don't think our performance was worth winning a medal today. We regret our performance today, so next season I want to push ourselves hard and to the very end, and we want to practice hard."^[24] Their coach, Bruno Marcotte, countered that "I told them to look at their silver medals and think: 'This is the result of all the work you did, all the competitions, the year and a half that you had to stay in Canada, away from your families, because of COVID-19. These medals represent all of that.'"^[25]

2022–23 season: Grand Prix Final champions

In July, Miura injured her left shoulder while skating in a Japanese ice show during the off-season, which kept the pair from significant training until September. Despite this, Miura/Kihara managed to win gold at their first Grand Prix event, the 2022 Skate Canada International, becoming the first Japanese pair team ever to do so.^[26][27] Their free skate program earned praise from Sleeping at Last, the artist of the program's music.^[28] Weeks later, they competed at their second assignment, the 2022 NHK Trophy in Sapporo, winning the short program with a new personal best score, nearly 14 points clear of Americans Chan/Howe in second.^[29] They won the free skate by a wide margin, with only two minor errors, winning their second Grand Prix gold and becoming the first Japanese team to win Japan's home Grand Prix event. These results qualified them for the Grand Prix Final.^[30][31]

Miura/Kihara entered the Final in Turin as the top-seeded team and won the short program over American reigning World champions Knierim/Frazier by a 0.43 point margin, with the latter team having a jump error.^[32] They won the free skate by a similarly narrow 0.87 point margin after Miura doubled an intended triple toe loop and Kihara put his hand down on their triple Salchow. Kihara lamented the latter mistake, saying it was "the first time in eight years" that he had done so. He added that "we were saved by the power of the audience." They were the first Japanese pair to both medal at and win the Grand Prix Final.^[33][34]

Miura/Kihara were next scheduled to compete at the 2022–23 Japan Championships, but their travel from Canada to Japan was disrupted by the onset of a major winter storm, which resulted in their luggage being lost. Because of their lost skates, they were unable to compete at the championship, though the federation said they would still be considered for international assignments in the second half of the season.^[35]

Programs

 

Miura and Ichihashi at the 2017 World Junior Championships

With Kihara

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2022–2023 ^[36]	You'll Never Walk Alone by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II performed by Marcus Mumford and Elvis Presley choreo. by Julie Marcotte	Atlas: Two by Sleeping at Last choreo. by Julie Marcotte	I Lived by OneRepublic
2021–2022 ^[37]	Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen performed by k.d. lang choreo. by Julie Marcotte	Woman by Shawn Phillips choreo. by Julie Marcotte	I Lived by OneRepublic
2020–2021 ^[38]			Million Reasons by Lady Gaga
2019–2020 ^[2]	Nocturnal Animals by Abel Korzeniowski choreo. by Allie Hann-McCurdy	Fix You by Coldplay choreo. by Valérie Saurette	Million Reasons by Lady Gaga

With Ichihashi

Season	Short program	Free skating
2018–2019 ^[39]	Cry Me a River by Michael Bublé choreo. by Julie Marcotte	Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell choreo. by Valérie Saurette
2017–2018 ^[40]	Miss Saigon by Claude-Michel Schönberg	Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell
2016–2017 ^[41]	Miss Saigon by Claude-Michel Schönberg	Charlie Chaplin films

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Pairs with Kihara

International^[42]
Event	19–20	20–21	21–22	22–23
Olympics			7th
Worlds	C	10th	2nd	TBD
Four Continents	8th			TBD
GP Final			C	1st
GP NHK Trophy	5th		3rd	1st
GP Skate America			2nd
GP Skate Canada		C		1st
CS Autumn Classic			1st
National
Japan Champ.	1st		WD	WD
Team events
Olympics			3rd T
World Team Trophy		3rd T 3rd P
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled T = Team result; P = Personal result. Medals awarded for team result only.

Pairs with Ichihashi

International^[1]
Event	15–16	16–17	17–18	18–19
Four Continents			10th
CS Golden Spin			6th
International: Junior^[1]
Junior Worlds		13th	10th	14th
JGP Austria				7th
JGP Canada				4th
JGP Latvia			10th
JGP Poland			10th
Bavarian Open	7th
Toruń Cup		1st
National^[43]
Japan Champ.			3rd	WD
Japan Jr. Champ.	1st	1st
Team events
World Team Trophy				2nd T 6th P
J = Junior level

Women's singles

National
Event	14–15
Japan Novice Championships	28th A
Levels: A = Novice A

Detailed results

With Kihara

2022–23 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
March 20–26, 2023	2023 World Championships	TBD	TBD	TBD
February 7–12, 2023	2023 Four Continents Championships	TBD	TBD	TBD
December 8–11, 2022	2022–23 Grand Prix Final	1 78.08	1 136.50	1 214.58
November 17–20, 2022	2022 NHK Trophy	1 78.25	1 137.91	1 216.16
October 28–30, 2022	2022 Skate Canada International	1 73.39	1 138.63	1 212.02
2021–22 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
March 21–27, 2022	2022 World Championships	3 71.58	3 127.97	2 199.55
February 18–19, 2022	2022 Winter Olympics	8 70.85	5 141.04	7 211.89
February 4–7, 2022	2022 Winter Olympics – Team event	4 74.45	2 139.60	3T
November 12–14, 2021	2021 NHK Trophy	3 73.98	3 135.44	3 209.42
October 22–24, 2021	2021 Skate America	3 72.63	3 135.57	2 208.20
September 16–18, 2021	2021 CS Autumn Classic International	1 72.32	1 131.74	1 204.06
2020–21 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
April 15–18, 2021	2021 World Team Trophy	3 65.82	3 130.83	3T/3P 196.65
March 22–28, 2021	2021 World Championships	8 64.37	10 120.04	10 184.41
2019–20 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
February 4 – 9, 2020	2020 Four Continents Championships	9 57.45	8 110.05	8 167.50
December 18–22, 2019	2019–20 Japan Championships	1 53.95	1 116.16	1 170.11
November 22–24, 2019	2019 NHK Trophy	6 62.41	6 117.53	5 179.94

References

1. "Competition Results: Riku MIURA / Shoya ICHIHASHI". International Skating Union. from the original on July 11, 2018.
2. . International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 21, 2019.
3. 作者別, "三浦璃来・市橋翔哉組のペア解消…”りくしょー”解散の理由とは？", フィギュアを誰でも楽しめるようにニュース・解説をしています, July 25, 2019
4. Slater, Paula (November 23, 2019). "Sui and Han reign at NHK Trophy". Golden Skate.
5. Slater, Paula (December 19, 2019). "Rika Kihira leads ladies at Japanese Nationals". Golden Skate.
6. Slater, Paula (December 21, 2019). "Rika Kihira claims first Japanese National title". Golden Skate.
7. Ewing, Lori (March 11, 2020). "World figure skating championships cancelled in Montreal". CBC Sports.
8. "Skate Canada International in Ottawa cancelled as COVID-19 cases rise". CBC Sports. October 14, 2020.
9. Slater, Paula (March 26, 2021). "Mishina and Galliamov capture pairs' title in World debut". Golden Skate.
10. Slater, Paula (April 15, 2021). "2021 World Team Trophy: Day 1". Golden Skate.
11. Slater, Paula (April 16, 2021). "2021 World Team Trophy: Day 2". Golden Skate.
12. Slater, Paula (April 17, 2021). "2021 World Team Trophy: Day 3". Golden Skate.
13. Jiwani, Rory (September 17, 2021). "Miura/Kihara take Autumn Classic pairs title from debutants James/Radford". Olympic Channel.
14. Capellazzi, Gina (25 October 2021). "Team USA pairs finish in fourth and fifth at Skate America". Figure Skaters Online.
15. Slater, Paula (October 24, 2021). "Tarasova and Morozov pocket second Skate America gold". Golden Skate.
16. Slater, Paula (November 13, 2021). "Mishina and Galliamov storm to gold at NHK Trophy". Golden Skate.
17. "Figure skating Grand Prix Final cancelled over travel rules". CBC Sports. December 2, 2021.
18. Slater, Paula (February 4, 2022). "Team USA leads Olympic Figure Skating Team Event". Golden Skate.
19. Slater, Paula (February 7, 2022). "ROC wins Olympic figure skating team event". Golden Skate.
20. Slater, Paula (February 18, 2022). "Sui and Han lead Pairs in Beijing with new record score". Golden Skate.
21. Slater, Paula (February 19, 2022). "Chinese edge out ROC for Pairs' gold in 2022 Beijing Olympics". Golden Skate.
22. Campigotto, Jesse (March 22, 2022). "Get ready for a bizarre figure skating world championships". CBC Sports.
23. Slater, Paula (March 23, 2022). "USA's Knierim and Frazier lead Pairs in Montpellier". Golden Skate.
24. Slater, Paula (March 24, 2022). "USA's Knierim and Frazier take gold in Worlds debut as a team". Golden Skate.
25. Cloutier, Claire (March 26, 2022). "Bruno Marcotte: "Miura/Kihara are very special"". A Divine Sport.
26. McCarvel, Nick (October 28, 2022). "Miura Kao, 17, leads Skate Canada, besting teammate Uno Shoma in short program". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
27. Slater, Paula (October 29, 2022). "Miura and Kihara win historic pairs Gold for Japan". Golden Skate.
28. Sleeping at Last [@sleepingatlast] (30 October 2022). "sooo honored my song gets to be a part! how beautiful!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
29. "'Confident' Miura/Kihara (JPN) delight home crowd to lead Pairs after Short Program at NHK Trophy". International Skating Union. November 18, 2022.
30. "Miura/Kihara (JPN) take home Pairs gold in NHK Trophy to qualify for Grand Prix Final in style". International Skating Union. November 19, 2022.
31. Slater, Paula (November 19, 2022). "Miura and Kihara take second Grand Prix title at NHK Trophy". Golden Skate.
32. "Miura/Kihara (JPN) take Pairs Short over Knierim/Frazier (USA) at ISU Grand Prix Final". International Skating Union. December 8, 2022.
33. "Miura/Kihara make Japan's first ISU Grand Prix Pairs medal a gold". International Skating Union. December 9, 2022.
34. Slater, Paula (December 9, 2022). "Miura and Kihara make history in Torino". Golden Skate.
35. Gallagher, Jack (December 22, 2022). "Japan's top pair to miss national championships due to plane delay and lost baggage". Japan Forward.
36. "Riku MIURA / Ryuichi KIHARA: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
37. "Riku MIURA / Ryuichi KIHARA: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. from the original on September 20, 2021.
38. . International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 25, 2021.
39. "Riku MIURA / Shoya ICHIHASHI: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. from the original on October 9, 2018.
40. . International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018.
41. . International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017.
42. "Competition Results: Riku MIURA / Ryuichi KIHARA". International Skating Union.
43. "三浦 璃来 / 市橋 翔哉" [MIURA Riku / ICHIHASHI Shoya] (in Japanese). Japan Skating Federation. from the original on July 11, 2018.

External links

  Media related to Riku Miura at Wikimedia Commons

• Riku MIURA / Ryuichi KIHARA at the International Skating Union
• Riku MIURA / Shoya ICHIHASHI at the International Skating Union