Olympic pairs figure skating gold medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara retire

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara announced their retirement from figure skating on Friday, two months after winning the Olympic gold medal with a record-breaking skate.

Miura and Kihara, known to fans as “RikuRyu,” leave the skating world at their peak after surging from fifth place to first at the Milan Cortina Olympics with a world-record free skate that more than made up for earlier errors.

They became the first Japanese pair to win Olympic gold, a breakthrough in a country whose figure skating passion had until then largely focused on the individual events.

“While our competitive careers are coming to an end, we truly feel that we gave it our all, and have no regrets. We are proud of everything we went through, and feel we gained so much along the way,” they posted on Instagram.

“The two of us will now take on new challenges so that we can bring wider recognition to pair skating in Japan. We hope that we can count on you to follow us on our journey.”

The 24-year-old Miura and 33-year-old Kihara's announcement came on the same day that they met Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at a spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace’s imperial garden in Tokyo.

Based out of Canada with coach Bruno Marcotte, Miura and Kihara won the world title in 2023 and 2025, and two Olympic team event silver medals for Japan.

The Milan Cortina Olympic free skate was the last competitive performance for Miura and Kihara, who skipped last month's world championships, where Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin won pairs gold for Germany.

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Japan's Emperor Naruhito, right, and Empress Masako, third right, chat with guests, Japanese Olympic figure skating pairs champions Riku Miura, second right, and Ryuichi Kihara during their spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace's imperial garden in Tokyo, Friday, April 17, 2026. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE -Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan compete during the pairs figure skating long program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

FILE -Gold medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan receive their medals after the pairs figure skating long program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

Japanese Olympic figure skating pairs champions Riku Miura, left, and Ryuichi Kihara attend a spring garden party hosted by Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the Akasaka Palace's imperial garden in Tokyo, Friday, April 17, 2026. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarians are heading to a new early election that could bring to power a left-leaning ex-president just days after Hungarian voters rejected the authoritarian policies and global far-right movement of Viktor Orbán.

Rumen Radev 's new coalition is seen as favored to win most of the votes in the April 19 poll, with some voters hoping that this could put an end to the country’s oligarchic corruption, while others are lining up behind Radev’s Eurosceptic and pro-Russian views.

Radev resigned from the mostly ceremonial presidency in January, a few months before the end of his second term in office, to launch a bid to lead the government as prime minister.

The 62-year-old former fighter pilot and air force commander is seen as Bulgaria’s most popular politician and has promised to give the nation a fresh start if his center-left Progressive Bulgaria coalition wins the upcoming election.

Sunday’s snap vote follows the resignation of a conservative-led government amid nationwide anti-corruption protests in December 2025 that drew hundreds of thousands of mainly young people to the streets.

Bulgaria, a European Union and NATO member country with a population of 6.5 million, joined the eurozone on Jan. 1 this year shortly after entering the border-free Schengen travel area. But it has been plagued by political instability since 2021, when three-time conservative Prime Minister Boyko Borissov resigned following massive protests fueled by anger over widespread corruption and injustice.

Since then, no government has survived for more than a year before being brought down by street protests or backroom deals in parliament, resulting in seven inconclusive early elections in five years. That's led to growing mistrust in the institutions, voter apathy and a shrinking turnout at the elections.

Last month, Bulgaria requested the assistance of the EU diplomatic service to counter Russian attempts to influence public opinion through social media networks and propaganda websites. The request was based on expert warnings about active networks of Russian influence accounts that seek to sow division.

Opinion polls predict Sunday's turnout to jump from an average of 35% in the last few elections to over 50%, partly because a new player has joined the race, but also due to efforts by the interim government to boost confidence in the vote with nationwide police raids, arrests and pretrial proceedings for vote-buying.

Most polls predict that Radev’s coalition could get more than 30% of the vote, putting him nearly 10% ahead of his closest rival — Borissov, the veteran leader of the center-right GERB party whose most recent term as prime minister was ended by the December 2025 protests. Most polls report margins of error from 3 to 3.5%.

Radev has cast himself as an opponent of the country’s entrenched mafia and its ties to high-ranking politicians. At the latest preelection rally on Wednesday, he vowed to “remove the corrupt, oligarchic model of governance from political power.”

Polls suggest that Radev is likely to come in first, but will need a partner to form a stable governing coalition. He's ruled out an alliances with Borissov’s GERB or with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, whose leader Delyan Peevski has been sanctioned for corruption by both the United States and Britain.

A possible coalition partner for such reforms in domestic politics could be the pro-Western bloc “We Continue the Change,” which is predicted to come in third with 12%-14 % of the votes.

However, there are significant foreign policy issues that could prevent such cooperation, including the ongoing controversy surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine: while officially denouncing Moscow’s aggression, Radev has repeatedly opposed military aid to Kyiv and has favored reopening talks with Russia as a way out of the conflict.

Evelina Slavkova, from research center Trend, said Radev was unlikely to make a serious effort to reorient Bulgaria more toward Russia.

“Our country has succeeded, despite all the obstacles, despite disagreements among some politicians, in building a very important set of tools that keeps Bulgaria on the right track,” she said in an interview with the AP.

Slavkova said the country’s membership in NATO and the EU, as well as it place in the eurozone and the Schengen Area, are “tools that allow us to be much more at ease.”

She also noted that during the campaign Radev avoided giving definitive yes- or no-answers while seeking some balance between the two positions.

“This might be acceptable during a campaign, but when you’re running the country, you’ll certainly have to provide clear, definitive answers” Slavkova said.

Valentina Petrova in Sofia, Bulgaria contributed to this report

Former three-time conservative Prime Minister Boyko Borissov poses for selfies with supporters at the closing rally of his campaign, in Samokov, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, as Bulgaria heads into an early parliamentary election. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

Former three-time conservative Prime Minister Boyko Borissov delivers a speech at the closing rally of his campaign, in Samokov, Bulgaria, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

Former Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, center, poses with a supporter at the closing rally of his campaign, in Sofia, Thursday, April 16, 2026, as Bulgaria heads into an early parliamentary election. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)