FIGURE SKATING: Japan champions Miura, Kihara to marry

TOKYO- Japanese ice-skating champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who won the hearts of many Japanese in a country where skating can top the news bulletins, announced their engagement on Sunday, becoming partners off as well as on the ice.

"We're engaged," they posted on Instagram with a photo of Kihara kneeling on the ice to present Miura with the ring. "Through both the happy times and the difficult ones, we’ve shared so many moments together, supporting each other every step of the way."

Known jointly as "Riku-Ryu", Miura, 24, and Kihara, who turned 34 on Saturday, become the first Japanese pair to win Olympic gold in figure skating at the Milano Cortina Winter Games in February.

Known for smiling, laughing and hugging — with Kihara sometimes carrying the 146-cm (4-foot-nine-inch) Miura onto and off the ice — the couple have had their share of difficult and happy times from teaming up in 2019 to announcing their retirement from competitive skating in April.

They overcame years of obstacles, with Kihara battling recurring back injuries and Miura repeatedly competing with a chronically dislocated shoulder.

The fairytale peak was their Milan performance, built around the themes of combat, survival and triumph.

They slipped to fifth place on an uncharacteristic error before coming back with a spellbinding free programme, the crowd on their feet long before the final strains of the music from "Gladiator" died out.

They earned the gold and a world-record score. Kihara, who said he "felt completely devastated" after the setback, immediately burst into tears — in images replayed countless times on Japanese television.

Over time, the couple "became irreplaceable parts of each other’s lives," they said in Sunday's post, which had garnered more than 14,000 congratulatory messages within five hours.

Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by William Mallard/Reuters