In tears after their commanding free skate, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara gave the performance they needed today in the hunt for an Olympic gold medal, after a shaky short program had them in a surprise 5th place. 

They skated perfectly clean in the final, with power, strength and stunning unity to “Gladiator” for a season's best 158.13 points in the free skate and 231.24 total score.

It was a statement performance under pressure, delivering when it mattered most to secure Japan’s first pairs Olympic medal of any color, and completing one of the most dramatic comebacks of the Games.

"We still can't believe that this has happened after yesterday's performance," Kihara said via translator. "We were quite disappointed with what happened, but we're really happy with how we skated today. It's a little bit of a disbelief that we were able to get a medal for Japan in pair skating for the first time ever, and we hope that our performance tonight is going to lead the Japan skating community into the future to perform better and better moving forward."

FULL RESULTS

Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava also made history, earning their nation's first ever Olympic medal, skating a delightful free skate to “Le discours d'Arthur” by Jérôme Rebotier and “Keeping Me Alive” by Jonathan Roy. They were not flawless, but a high technical score kept them on the podium in 2nd place in both segments, finishing with 221.75 points overall to claim silver.

"It's the best day in my life," Berulava said once the event was over. "I'm so very happy with our performance today — amazing moment for my country."

Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin fought through nerves for a gorgeous finish to a free skate that started with some unfortunate errors on their side-by-side jumps from Hase. They had a 4.55-point cushion after their 1st-place short program, and though they dropped to 4th in the free skate, they completed their Olympic debut with a bronze medal on 219.09 total points — Germany’s first Olympic figure skating medal since 2018.

"It's a medal at the Olympics. I think it doesn't matter which color, it's just an amazing effort we put out there," Hase said after competing. We fought to the end. We did an amazing job. We didn't stop after the big mistake on the salchow, and we can bring home a bronze medal on our first Olympics together. I think that's pretty amazing."

Hase also added that the medal would mean extra focus on her sport in Germany, and what that might suggest for the future of her country in figure skating.

"I think it means that maybe the next years there will be a lot more funding for skating hopefully. So, small girls and boys can come up like we did and go the whole way. This is what I wish for Germany," she said.

Hungary’s Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko delivered one of the most consistent performances of the competition, placing 3rd in the free skate with 141.39 points to finish just off the podium in 4th overall (215.26). They were within striking distance throughout, and solidified themselves as a rising force in the discipline.

Reigning Olympic champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, competing together for the first time since their gold medal four years ago, finished 5th overall with 208.64 points. Their elegant free skate was strong but they were ultimately unable to climb back into medal contention.

Canada’s Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, who had been third after the short program, slipped to 8th overall (199.66) after a more tentative free skate that included a fall deduction.

Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, and Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, both displayed how the U.S. pairs figure skating program has grown. 

Chan and Howe ceded nothing, with a calm, balanced free skate, that grew in performance and emotional connection as their "Ghost" program progressed. They broke the 200-point barrier with 200.31 points, edging ahead of their teammates for 7th place overall

"There's so much pressure on trying to get to the Games, and now that we made it, there's the pressure of being able to skate great performances in front of such a large crowd" Howe said. "We work so hard to get to this stage, and then once you make it, it's like your brain doesn't know how to process that. But we're just grateful to be here, and then also to be able to skate as well as we did — it's a huge blessing for us."

After a 7th place finish in the short program, Kam and O'Shea had a few errors in the free skate — with falls from Kam on the side-by-side salchow jumps and the throw — but overall, the Milan Cortina Games Olympic team event gold medalists put out a resilient program in the final, showing their ability for dynamic, high-powered performance that left them in 9th place.

"It's definitely a bit of a mixed bag of emotions," Kam said after skating. "I'm a little disappointed. I wish that I could have held out a little bit longer for another clean skate. I feel like we've built so much great momentum here at this competition, and every single time we've stepped out on the ice, it's felt more comfortable."

"It's been our first Olympics, our first opportunity to compete with an entire team as Team USA, and I think that we've grown a lot in confidence," O'Shea added.

Next up in Olympic figure skating is the women's short program as Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito take the ice for the U.S. Watch them streaming on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com, airing on USA Network and NBC.