Japan’s Miura and Kihara reclaim Grand Prix Final title
2025-26 Grand Prix Final: Pairs’ Figure Skating
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara reclaimed the Grand Prix Final title in the Pairs’ discipline on home ice on Friday in Nagoya, Japan. Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy earned the silver, while Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin rose from fifth to claim the bronze.
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara
The current World champions placed first in the short program by a very narrow margin with 77.32 points. They fought through their routine to “Paint It Black,” and there were two notable mistakes. Miura underrotated her jump in the side-by-side triple toes—a problem she seems to be having this season. She also stepped out of the throw triple flip. However, all other elements were strong and earned many positive grades of execution (GOE), including the twist, lift, spin, footwork, and death spiral. Except for the level three triple twist, all other elements were rewarded with a level four.
“We are a little bit nervous, but we think that was really good,” said Kihara. “There were definitely some mistakes, but we were also able to get the levels that we weren’t able to get before. We also went past 75. We are happy because we really enjoy it. To be on the ice together with the very emotional crowd was amazing, and yeah, we’re ready for tomorrow.”
Skating to music from Gladiator, the two-time Four Continents champions opened with a level-three triple twist, but Kihara stepped out of the last jump in a triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence. Miura also stepped out of a throw triple loop, but the team landed the triple Salchows and throw triple flip. All three lifts and the pair spin were awarded a level four, and the group 5 Axel lift earned high GOEs. They finished second (147.89) in the free skate with a new personal best, but first overall with a total score of 225.21.
“I’m happy to have won in my home country of Japan,” said Miura. “I couldn’t have finished the competition without the warm cheers of the audience. I’m grateful to everyone who always supports us. We were a little worried because the previous skaters had gotten high scores, but we were confident in what we had done up until then, so we skated believing that if we just skated like we always do, everything would be fine.”
“We performed with speed in mind,” said Kihara. “There were some tough parts, but the warm cheers from the audience helped me skate to the end.”
Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii
The two-time World bronze medalists earned a new personal best of 77.22 for their passionate and inspiring short program for second place. Their routine to “El Toro Salvaje” and “Concerto de España” was flawless and featured a level-four triple twist, throw triple loop, and side-by-side triple Salchows. The lift, footwork, and spin were graded a level four, while the death spiral received a level three.
“We had some struggle at the beginning of the lift, but we both were fighting really, really good,” Macii said. “I’m really proud of Sara, because a few months ago, she would be so terrified about this mistake. But now she was really calm and did a really good job, even though it was really shaky at the beginning.
Conti and Macii also delivered with their emotional free skate to “Caruso” and “Occhi Verdi.” The 2025 NHK Trophy champions executed a solid level-four triple twist, triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence, triple Salchows, a throw triple loop, and throw triple Salchow. The pair spin and all three lifts were graded a level four, and they earned positive GOEs throughout. They renewed their personal bests for third place in this segment and overall (146.06/223.28).
“We are really happy!” said Conti. “We controlled everything, and I’m so happy that we are really all together on the ice. I feel like we are one person on the ice. I think this is very important for us because we understood how we had to manage the attention and how we can work together.”
“I think we skated really good,” added Macii. “It was the best free program where we managed the tension. All the time we used to do competitions together with strong couples, but not all of them at the same time. We managed the pressure really good. Sara did a great job. There is a lot of things we need to fix still but we know there is margin. Of course, we wanted to win but that’s ok. We did our best right now and we think the Japanese public liked us, so that’s the biggest prize to gain.”
Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin
The 2025 World silver medalists found themselves in fifth (71.68) place after Hase popped her jump on the side-by-side triple Salchows, a costly mistake. The team rebounded to show a solid throw triple loop while all elements received a level four in their tango-themed routine to “El Abrazo.”
“Besides the (mistake on the) Salchow, this is a great program,” said Hase. “It’s not more pressure than the other competitions. We always go in with the goal to skate clean, so it’s more like that we put pressure on ourselves to skate as good as possible. We want to be the best again, but it cannot be always perfect. We still did a step forward with each competition, so we still have some time to get all stuff fixed. Today, we skated with more power from the beginning to the end. This part is developing a lot.”
However, the 2025 European champions rebounded with a near-flawless and lyrical free skate to Memoryhouse. They produced a side-by-side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence, followed by triple Salchows. The throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow were strong, earning many GOES, and the spin and all three lifts were graded a level four. They scored 149.57—a new personal best— for first place in the free skate, and with a total score of 221.25, rose two spots onto the podium for third overall.
“We were hoping for the whole season for a free program like that!” said Hase. “Last year it was a little bit easier for us to get a clean free, and this year we had many good shorts, but the free always had some mistakes. So, after we were done with the free program, I think we both were just super happy that finally we controlled ourselves in the right direction. It was a really good skate and also good points.”
“I am really happy with our performance today,” added Volodin. “We did a good short program at Skate Canada, but our free skating was somewhat shaky this season. To have skated like this today was really important. We proved that we can do very good free skates, and that is so important for the next competitions and the Olympic Games.”
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia showed improvement in their presentation of their short program to “Boléro,” placing third (75.04). The 2025 Skate America silver medalists produced side-by-side triple Salchows, but Berulava had a slight pitch step while Metelkina landed smoothly. The twist and spin were graded a level three, while the death spiral, lift and footwork garnered a level four.
“This is a great program,” said Berulava. “I’m nervous, but my partner gives me a lot of confidence, and we hope to perform better in the free skate. She really helped me out today. But tomorrow I’m going to be ready and tomorrow I’m going to do my part as well. There were a lot of Georgian flags in the audience and that’s surprising. Whenever we compete in Japan, there’s a lot of support, there’s a lot of flags, and it really helps us to perform our best as well. Last year we were third place and that gave us a lot of motivation. Each year we want to improve, get better scores and get better and better placements as well.”
The 2024–25 Grand Prix Final bronze medalists had several mistakes in their free skate, finishing fourth in this segment and off the podium for fourth place overall (136.49/211.53). The level-four triple twist was excellent, and they landed the triple Salchow-double Axel-double Axel sequence. However, Berulava stepped out of the triple toes and the Axel lift was shaky, earning a level two. Also, Metelkina put a foot down on the throw triple loop. The other two lifts received a level four, and the throw triple flip was solid.
“It might have been more on the lifts that have fell out of the rhythm,” said Metelkina. “We actually prefer not to think of the Olympic Games as something super special and something that I need to focus and stress out about. It’s about doing our best in every single competition.”
“The skate was OK, we made some mistakes,” Berulava acknowledged. “After the Final we will go home and will train hard to win the Europeans.”
Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko
Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary gave a stellar short program to Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song,” placing fourth with 72.84 points. They landed a throw triple Lutz and side-by-side triple toes, and the twist, lift, footwork, and spin were all graded a level four.
“We feel good!” said Pavlova. “It was amazing to the audience how they cheered and supported us. The skate was good, but we can do better. It was feeling a bit like shaky, but overall, we’re happy with the outcome. Being at a Grand Prix Final in an Olympic year, it was a big moment for us as a team. With a good programs and good skates, every competition we are feeling very happy. I feel the Final is just a reward to us for managing all of it.”
The 2025 NHK Trophy silver medalists put out a good free skate to “Without You” which featured a triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence, throw triple Lutz, triple Salchows, and throw triple loop. Two lifts and the pair spin were graded a level four, and they finished fifth in this segment with a season’s best of 135.49 points. With a personal best total score of 208.33, they placed fifth overall.
“We’re feeling good,” said Pavlova. “It was our first clean skate this season, and we’re proud of that. We’re going in the right direction forward. So from now on, we want to just improve everything to be better in the next competition. Every minute on the ice, every second, we want to enjoy the audience because here it’s amazing. It’s very supportive!”
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada rounded out the six teams in the short program with 71.07 points. Deschamps stepped out of the side-by-side triple toes, while Stellato-Dudek stepped out of the throw triple loop. Aside from a level-three death spiral, all other elements were rewarded a level four in their powerful routine to Carmina Burana.
“We’re really disappointed and this is the worst short of the season,” said Stellato-Dudek. “We’re super nervous today. I’m not sure it comes from caring and wanting to do well. Really, that’s where it comes from. But I need to get a little bit better hold of it, I think. We need to work on how to deal with nerves, the stress and pressure. In some ways it’s good to make the mistakes earlier and then you can correct them. In the free skate, we certainly have nothing to lose. So might as well just go for everything.”
The 2024 World Champions made costly mistakes in their express free skate to “Poeta en el Mar” and “Amor Dulce Muerte,” placing sixth with 123.29 points. The team opened with a good level-four triple twist, but both skaters popped the last jump of the triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence. Stellato-Dudek turned out jump on the triple Salchows while Deschamps doubled his. Then, Stellato-Dudek put her foot down on a throw triple loop before falling on a throw triple Salchow. However, all lifts and the pair spin was graded a level four. They finished sixth overall (194.36).
“I don’t really know what to say when it’s like so far from how we practice,” said Stellato-Dudek. “We choose this music because we can show power at the very end of the program and it features our connection. We need to improve our spin and the throw jumps. It’s frustrating when they don’t go well, but that’s what we have to buckle down on.”
“We felt ready and everything,” added Deschamps. “We had some good performances, but we need to do it more often, it’s not enough right now. We will take a week off to recover. We have done four events in nine weeks, and we have also been sick this week. We just need to recover and then restart to be able to attack the rest of the season.”
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