[Source: Reuters]

Japanese ice-skating champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who won the hearts of many Japanese in a country ​where skating can top the news bulletins, announced their engagement, becoming partners off as well as on the ice.

“We’re engaged,” they posted on Instagram with a photo of Kihara kneeling on the ice to present ​Miura with the ring. “Through both the happy times and the ​difficult ones, we’ve shared so many moments together, supporting each ⁠other every step of the way.”

Known jointly as “Riku-Ryu”, Miura, 24, and ​Kihara, who turned 34 on Saturday, become the first Japanese pair to ​win Olympic gold in figure skating at the Milano Cortina Winter Games in February.

Known for smiling, laughing and hugging — with Kihara sometimes carrying the 146-cm (4-foot-nine-inch) Miura onto ​and off the ice — the couple have had their share of ​difficult and happy times from teaming up in 2019 to announcing their retirement from competitive ‌skating ⁠in April.

They overcame years of obstacles, with Kihara battling recurring back injuries and Miura repeatedly competing with a chronically dislocated shoulder.

The fairytale peak was their Milan performance, built around the themes of combat, survival and ​triumph.

They slipped to ​fifth place ⁠on an uncharacteristic error before coming back with a spellbinding free programme, the crowd on their feet long ​before the final strains of the music from “Gladiator” ​died out.

They ⁠earned the gold and a world-record score. Kihara, who said he “felt completely devastated” after the setback, immediately burst into tears — in images replayed countless times ⁠on ​Japanese television.

Over time, the couple “became irreplaceable parts ​of each other’s lives,” they said in Sunday’s post, which had garnered more than 14,000 ​congratulatory messages within five hours.