Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara stormed back from fifth place to capture Japan's first Olympic figure skating pairs title on Monday.

There are two distinct kinds of happy Olympians in the moments after an event: those who are happy they medaled, and those who are happy to be there. The medalists go home with hardware and fame; the others take satisfaction in the fact they’ve accomplished their dreams.

Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara soared from fifth place to Olympic gold with a world-record free skate on Monday. See full pairs results, medalists and dramatic highlights from Milano-Cortina.

This kind of surprise ending happens now and then in figure skating, when pairs or singles not even in the last group leapfrog others to win gold.

The Olympic figure skating pairs competition ended with Japan taking gold and Team USA getting two top 10 finishes. See full results, highlights.

The teams of Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan, and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, were knocked out of podium contention before the competition ended.

The 2026 Olympics have been wild so far, and Japan’s Ikuma Horishima’s insane finish to the downhill dual moguls event was just the next on the list. In the second half of Horishima’s race Sunday, he lost his balance after flipping over the final hill. Horishima fell down but got right back up — only he was facing the wrong way.

The Olympic Team Event came down to the final skater on Sunday. In front of a packed house inside the Milano Ice Skating arena, the United States narrowly defeated Japan for its second consecutive team gold.