Riku Miura (; born December 17, 2001) is a Japanese retired pair skater. She and pair partner, Ryuichi Kihara, are the 2026 Olympic pair skating champions, two-time Olympic team event silver medalists (2022, 2026), two-time World Champions (2023, 2025), two-time World silver medalists (2022, 2024), two-time Four Continents champions (2023, 2025), two-time Grand Prix Final champions (2022–23, 2025–26), eight-time ISU Grand Prix medalists (five golds, two silvers, one bronze), three-time ISU Challenger Series medalists (one gold, two silvers), and two-time Japanese national champions (2019–20, 2024–25).
Miura and Kihara are the first Japanese pair skating team to win gold at an ISU Grand Prix event, an ISU Grand Prix Final, an ISU Championships, and a Winter Olympic Games. They are also one of only few skaters to achieve a Career Golden Slam.
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 on December 17, 2001, in Takarazuka, Hyōgo. She enjoys doing karate in her spare time. Her figure skating idol is Sui Wenjing.
She studied at Chukyo University's School of Sport Science.
On 23 August 2026, Miura announced her engagement with pair partner Ryuichi Kihara.
Career Early career and partnership with Shoya Ichihashi
Miura began figure skating in 2011 and was a singles skater until the age of twelve when she decided to try pair skating after meeting Canadian pair skating coach, Bruno Marcotte, at a training seminar he was holding in Japan.
Miura first teamed up with Shoya Ichihashi in 2015. The pair was coached by Takeshi Honda in Japan while also traveling to Canada two to three weeks at a time to work with Marcotte. Miura/Ichihashi would go on to compete at four ISU Championships. This included a tenth-place finish at the 2018 Four Continents Championships and at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Their partnership dissolved following the 2018–19 figure skating season.
Partnership with Ryuichi Kihara 2019–20 season: Debut of Miura/Kihara In May 2019, Miura and her coach, Bruno Marcotte took part in a pair skating seminar that was held in Nagoya. There, two-time Olympian pair skater, Ryuichi Kihara, whose previous partnership had recently dissolved, was also in attendance. At the encouragement of Marcotte, Miura and Kihara decided to try skating together and following a successful tryout, they decided to team up. Two weeks later, the pair moved to Oakville, Ontario so they could train at the Oakville Skating Club fulltime under Marcotte, Meagan Duhamel, and Brian Shales.
Miura/Kihara made their international competitive debut at 2019 NHK Trophy, where they finished fifth. They were the only pair competing at the 2019–20 Japan Championships and had two falls in the short program. 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.
After an eighth-place finish at the 2020 Four Continents Championships, Miura/Kihara were assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but the event was cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
2020–21 season Miura/Kihara were assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate Canada International, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. Making their season debut at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, they placed tenth. They finished the season at the 2021 World Team Trophy, where they finished third in both segments, helping Team Japan to the bronze medal.
2021–22 season: Beijing Olympics Team Event silver 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.
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 marked the first medal for Japan in the pairs event on the Grand Prix circuit since 2011. 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 substantiated by jump and throw errors by Miura. She noted training issues, expressing 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. Miura/Kihara's results qualified them to the Grand Prix Final, but it was subsequently cancelled due to restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant.
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. They placed second in the free skate, securing nine points for the Japanese team, which went on to win the silver 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. In the pairs event, Miura doubled her triple jump attempt in the short program, resulting in a placement of eighth in the segment. In the free skate, they finished fifth in the segment, rising to seventh place overall.
Days after the Olympics concluded, Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine. In response, International Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian skaters from competing at the 2022 World Championships. Meanwhile, the Chinese Skating Association opted not to send athletes to compete in Montpellier. With athletes from those countries having comprised the entire top five pairs at the Olympics, the field was significantly altered, and Miura/Kihara entered as medal favourites. 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. They had a difficult free skate, with errors on both jumping passes and Miura falling on a throw triple loop. They also placed third in the free skate but took the silver medal overall, becoming the second Japanese pair team to win a World medal. Miura said 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." Their coach, Bruno Marcotte, countered, "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.'"
2022–23 season: World, Grand Prix Final, and Four Continents 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. Their free skate program earned praise from Sleeping at Last, the artist of the program's music. Weeks later, they competed at their second assignment, the 2022 NHK Trophy in Sapporo, winning the short program with a new personal best score of 78.25, nearly 14 points clear of Americans Chan/Howe in second. 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.
Miura/Kihara entered the Grand Prix 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. They also won the free skate by a narrow 0.87 points margin, despite Miura doubling an intended triple toe loop and Kihara putting his hand down on a triple Salchow. Kihara later said it was "the first time in eight years" that he had made such an error, adding that "we were saved by the power of the audience." They became the first Japanese pair to both medal at and win the Grand Prix Final.
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. Without their 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.
With principal rivals Knierim/Frazier not attending the 2023 Four Continents Championships in favour of Art on Ice shows, Miura/Kihara entered the event as heavy favourites for the gold medal. Miura fell on a downgraded triple toe jump attempt in the short program, but the team still won the segment by a margin of 2.80 points over Canadians Stellato/Deschamps. Miura attributed the mistake to nervousness, but said she was pleased that even with the error, they had scored over 70 points. Miura/Kihara also won the free skate, narrowly ahead of Chan/Howe, despite some jump errors and Kihara visibly struggling with low oxygen levels due to the high altitude in Colorado Springs. They won the gold medal, another first for a Japanese pair.
The 2023 World Championships were held on home ice in Saitama, with Miura/Kihara entering as one of the title favourites. They won the short program by a wide margin over Knierim/Frazier, clearing the 80-point threshold for the first time in their careers with a score of 80.72, which Miura described as "our goal for this season" afterward. They placed second in the free skate after Miura doubled a planned triple jump and fell on a throw, but remained comfortably in first place overall to win the gold medal. Miura/Kihara became the first Japanese World pairs champions, as well as the first team in almost a decade to complete the "grand slam" in pairs.
Miura/Kihara represented Team Japan for the 2023 World Team Trophy in Tokyo. They placed second in the short program after Miura had a difficult jump landing. In the free skate, Miura doubled a planned triple jump, and they again finished second in that segment. Team Japan won the bronze medal overall.
2023–24 season: Injury and World silver
Miura/Kihara started the year at the 2023 CS Autumn Classic International, winning the silver medal. However, Kihara began suffering from back pain in August, and he was soon diagnosed with lumbar spondylosis. As a result, the team withdrew from their assignments on the Grand Prix, and subsequently from the 2023–24 Japan Championships.