Miura/Kihara first Japanese figure skaters named for Beijing 2022

Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi will represent Japan at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

The pairs couple on Wednesday (15 December) became the first Japanese figure skaters to punch their ticket to the upcoming Winter Olympics as the Japan Skating Federation announced their selection ahead of next week's national championships.

Miura will make her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, which will be the third Games for Kihara.

The rest of the squad will be named after the 23-26 December nationals at the Saitama Super Arena, which is an Olympic qualifier. With their early selection Miura/Kihara have been exempted from the nationals.

The JSF made the call early on Miura/Kihara in light of the global outbreak of the Covid-19 variant Omicron. Miura/Kihara are based in Toronto and had they come home for the nationals, they would have risked not being able to return to Canada before the Games.

With Miura/Kihara the only de facto pair who would have made the cut for Japan anyway, the JSF effectively handed them a pass on merit amid their strong Olympic campaign, to allow them to prepare for Beijing in the comforts of their everyday training base.

Miura/Kihara, who have been together since August 2019, became the first Japanese pair to finish on the podium at the Grand Prix Series this season, placing third at Skate America and runners-up at NHK Trophy.

They had booked a spot at the Grand Prix Final, also a first for Japanese pairs, before the event set for 9-12 December in Osaka was cancelled after Japan closed their borders.

Miura/Kihara will also compete at the world championships from 21-27 March in Montpellier, France, the JSF said.