Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara – 2024 World Figure Skating Pairs FS (CBC)

Skaters, the reigning world champions who train out of Oakville, Ontario. Please welcome the final competitors from Japan. Rico, Miura and Ryoichi. Rico and Ryoichi, they were forced to miss the Grand Prix season because of Ryoichi's back injury. They made it back in time for Four Continents, where they finished second to the Canadians, Stiletto, Dudak and Deschamps. The reigning world champions made a slight mistake in their side side jumps last night, which puts them four points back of the Canadians. But those four points can easily be made up. We just saw on the screen if they want to take the world title, they need a season best of 20 points. It is possible they've gone back to a comfortable program. They're healthy, they're strong and they're ready to go. But they need it all. I love that moment. Love that choreographic moment. And they seem to be moving so confidently, quickly across the ice. Well, they take that confidence into their jumps. Triple axel, double axel, double axel. Ryoichi tends to get a bit wild on those double axels in practice, so that's a big moment for them to get past that jump. Love the gentle exit on one arm from their axel lasso lift, excellent control. Throw triple lutz. Oh, that was all willpower. So much will, but so much speed coming out of that. They have their second jump solo side by side, triple salchow coming next. And Riku does a double salchow. They needed to churn away at that lead. Almost on every single element. Was that the nail in the coffin for the gold medal? Triple loop. Riku told me she was doing extra cardio training and core training, so she didn't miss that throw triple loop again. Excellent speed throughout this back outside death spiral. This program has a churning momentum to it that they're keeping alive. Two points ahead of Deanna and Max in that tech tracker. They had four points to make up. This is going to be close. OK, we said this Japanese team was the class of the field if they skated close to their best. What what do you think, Megan? I think that double salchow is going to do them in. I think they may come ahead of the free skate. They might. They had a little bit more speed, more power. But I don't think that was quite enough to make up four points. But I'm not one of the judges. Deanna and Max had their personal best and no major flaws. What a great competition. Yeah, just doing that in my head, like what a great event for the Japanese to step on the ice in Canada after what Deanna and Max just did is a very, very difficult challenge. And that should give them confidence for the future. Moving forward, you can see Ryuichi kind of consoling Riku a bit. She looked a bit in a state of shock at the end of that program. One of their better triple twists to start the program. There was a more immediate letdown once he caught her. A little tight on the triple toe, but Riku really refocused, recovered and had excellent flow out of those double axles. Throw triple lutz. We talked about the flow that came out of that and their second throw towards the end of the program. Throw triple loop, nice tight air position. Low in the knee. Back outside, Desperado getting level three. Looked like quintessential, this is going to sound like a silly comment, but I'm going to do it anyways. Quintessential pair skating. It was clean, exciting, fast, everything that good pair skating should be. There's the shot. It was, but great pair skating. Would have had a triple sow and not a double sow, and you know that that's on Riku's mind. To move ahead of the Canadians, this team needs a score of a little more than one hundred and forty eight points. And wow, all Deanna Max can do is wait for these scores to come in. Here they come. It's not enough about four points shy of what they need, and they're to the left, your new world champions. Deanna Stolato Dudak and Maxime Deschamps. And at forty, Deanna becomes the oldest world champion in any discipline, and for Max, well, a decade of searching for the right partner. And he finally found his match in Deanna. What a moment for these two skaters. And what a story for the sport of figure skating to retire at 17, come back at what, 32, 33, 35, and win a world title at 40. This like as a sports inspirational story and to never leave any stone unturned. Talk about a life changing moment.