MILAN - Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara pulled out the best performance of their careers to move from fifth overnight to grab Olympic figure skating pairs gold on Monday.
The Japanese had been trailing after errors in their short programme but sealed gold with a rousing performance to the "Gladiator" soundtrack to give their country not only a first Olympic gold medal in the pairs event, but a first medal of any colour.
They knelt on the ice and wept after their fast-moving and dynamic skate brought the crowd to their feet in the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Their routine earned the Japanese personal best scores in both the free skate (158.13 points) and overall, with 231.24 points.
The two-time world champions admitted they thought they had let gold slip through their fingers on Sunday night as they trailed 6.9 points behind Hase and Volodin.
"I wanted to switch gear right away, forget about what happened yesterday," said Miura.
"Ryuichi was crying this morning so I felt like I needed to be strong and supportive for him and help him focus," she said.
Kihara said he had been "feeling really down" and blamed himself for the slip-up, conceding: "We did not think we would win."
"Thanks to my great partner and my coach we were able to just focus on our programme tonight."
Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava took silver nearly ten points behind with 221.75 as overnight leaders Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany won bronze with 219.09.
Miura (24) and 33-year-old Kihara had helped Japan win team silver for the second consecutive Olympics earlier in the Games.
"I'm so happy for them. Yesterday they were heartbroken," the Japanese pairs' coach Bruno Marcotte told journalists.
"They were still a little bit shaken in practice today but the message was 'today you have to be the best in the world'.
"I told them no matter what happens in five years, in 10 years, 20 years, you want to be remembered for this moment that you gave everything.
"Create magic and skate with your heart."
Marcotte said he showed them it was possible as at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games the winning German team had been trailing by a similar margin after the first day.
"I showed them it was possible and to never stopped believing," their coach said.
"I told them just to be themselves, stay true to what you are. Skate with your heart, make magic, you guys have each other."