Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won the pairs title at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston on Thursday, while defending champion Ilia Malinin seized command of the men's competition.
The duo opened their routine to Benjamin Clementine's "Adios" but struggled to complete their triple twist and triple toe loop jumps.
Despite the early problems, they recovered to post a score of 143.22 after leading the short program.
The Japanese duo scored 219.79 points overall to capture the world crown by 0.71 of a point over Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin with Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii third on 210.47.
"I'm very excited right now, so I forgot the English, but I'm very happy and I thanked everybody," said Kihara.
Miura and Kihara were second in Thursday's free skate final to the Germans but scored just well enough to capture their second world title in three seasons.
The pair had previously won gold at the 2023 championships, while taking silver in 2022 and 2024.
The Germans performed a perfectly synchronized routine that included a triple salchow throw that delighted the crowd.
Defending champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada finished fifth.
In the men's competition, Malinin delivered one of the greatest short programs ever performed and fans gave the 20-year-old American a standing ovation before his finish in a routine that earned 110.41 points, the fourth best short program score ever at men's worlds.
"I heard the cheering but I didn't take enough time to see how people were reacting to me," Malinin said. "I was so excited. I didn't even finish skating yet and they were already standing and cheering me so loud."
Nicknamed "Quad God" for his skill at quadruple jumps, Malinin dazzled the spectators with a brilliant performance.
His effort left Japan's Yuma Kagiyama, the 2022 Olympic runner-up and a three-time world runner-up, second on 107.09 with Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shadorov, the Four Continents champion, a distant third on 94.77.
Malinin said he felt more nervous than usual as he stepped onto the ice but responded when his music began.
"I can't describe how I feel right now," Malinin said. "All I remember is getting on that ice. I felt really nervous, more than usual, and I didn't know what was going to happen.
"But once the music came on, I just got into that slow skate and it really just went from there."
The men's title will be decided in Saturday's free skate final.
"It's going to be really fun and I'm really excited," Malinin said of his free skate program.
He said he was pleased to see Kagiyama deliver such a strong performance just after him in the final display of the session.
"I'm so excited for Yuma. He looked really confident out there," Malinin said. "I was watching him boardside right after I got off so I was supporting him and I'm glad he did really good."
The competition is being conducted with heavy hearts. Twenty-eight of 67 people who died when an American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter in Washington on Jan. 30 were members of the skating community, including three who trained at Malinin's Washington Skating club.
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