Despite the unexpected return of the defending champions, the 2026 Olympics brought a changing of the guard in pairs skating.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan emerged with the gold medal after a flawless, high-scoring performance in Monday’s free skate. They dethroned the defending Olympic champions, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, who finished fifth.

Miura, 24, and Kihara, 33, two-time world champions, had surprisingly been only fifth in the short program after bobbling on a lift. But they rebounded with a crackerjack performance in the free skate. Skating to music from the film “Gladiator,” they nailed their triples and throws and earned a big score of 158. Japan had never previously won a pairs gold.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia claimed silver, the first medal of any kind at the Winter Games for their nation, which has won 47 in the Summer Games, mostly in combat events such as wrestling and judo. The bronze medalists were Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany (though Volodin only switched to German citizenship from Russian in September).

The returning Chinese pair, Sui and Han, had said they were skating at these Games for themselves, not just to win as they had in the past. They dropped two triples from their free skate and missed the medals.

In another changing of the guard, Russian teams were not allowed to participate; they had been second, third and fourth behind Sui and Han in 2022 and won five of six Olympics between 1994 and 2014. That takes little away, though, from Miura and Kihara’s smashing gold.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Victor Mather, Doug Mills and Vincent Alban/Doug Mills
c. 2026 The New York Times Company