MONTREAL There were those who scoffed in the beginning. The doubters questioned a woman past her figure-skating prime wanting to turn back the clock and compete toe to toe with those a decade or two younger. “That woman is never going to do anything,” we were told. She had flights of fancy, that’s all. She […]
Ryuichi Kihara
Pair Short Program
MONTREAL Pair skating came to life on Wednesday at the world figure skating championships. It started with a breath. You could hear it right at the beginning of the short program – skated to the Montreal song “Oxygene” – of Canadian champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps. They delivered. The improbable Canadians – she 40 […]
Japanese Pair Back and Confident
MONTREAL Riku Muira and Ryuichi Kihara have had a largely silent, troubled season since they became the first Japanese pair team to win a world figure skating championship title last year – at home in Japan. Much loved because of their engaging personalities on ice, Muira and Kihara left a cheery little hole on […]
Pairs Short Program: Getting the Rust Out
Hold a world championship for the first time in two years, during a pandemic (with rising numbers in many places), with all sorts of training interruptions and stay-at-home orders and what could go wrong? It all came to roost in the pairs short program Wednesday at the world figure skating championships in Stockholm. Is […]