The Associated Press Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan compete during the pairs figure skating long program.

MILAN — Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara thought their chances of Olympic gold had gone by the wayside when the Japanese skaters made an uncharacteristic slip-up during their short program at the Milan Cortina Games.

Turns out they were just making it more dramatic.

The two-time defending world champions rebounded Monday night with a world-record free skate under the current scoring system, lifting them from fifth place all the way to the top step of the podium and their country’s first Olympic medal in the pairs event.

Miura and Kihara dropped to their knees in a tearful embrace when they realized they had won gold.

“My main message to them today was be the best in the world. Don’t worry about yesterday,” said their longtime coach, Bruno Marcotte. “I told them that it wasn’t over. Before they went out on the ice, I just said, ‘Be yourself.'”

They were the best version of it.

Miura and Kihara scored 158.13 points for the free skate and a career-best 231.24 overall, earning a gold medal to go with the silver they helped the Japanese team win last week. Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava earned the first medal for Georgia at a Winter Games with their silver, and Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany took bronze.

“It’s an amazing moment for my country,” Berulava said. “I’m in shock.”

Hase and Volodin, who led after the short program, made several mistakes in their free skate and slid to third. But rather than dwell on failing to win the gold medal, Hase chose to look at the positives: “We won an Olympic medal. It doesn’t suck,” she said.

“It’s a medal at the Olympics. I don’t think it matters the color,” Hase added. “A bronze medal in our first Olympics is amazing.”

Malinin gives hints

Ilia Malinin posted a video on social media Monday juxtaposing images of his many triumphs with a black-and-white image of the U.S. figure skater with his head buried in his hands, and a caption hinting at an “inevitable crash” amid the pressure of the Olympics while teasing that a “version of the story” is coming on Saturday.

That is when Malinin is expected to skate in the traditional exhibition gala to wrap up the Olympic figure skating program.

Malinin, who helped the U.S. win the team gold medal early in the Winter Games, was the heavy favorite to add another gold in the individual event. But he fell twice and struggled throughout his free skate on Friday, ending up in eighth.

He acknowledged afterward that the pressure of the Olympics had worn him down, saying: “I didn’t really know how to handle it.”

Malinin alluded again to the weight he felt while competing in Milan in the caption to his social media video.

“On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside,” wrote the 21-year-old Malinin. “Even your happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise. Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure. It all builds up as these moments flash before your eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash.”

Elsewhere:

n Defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu took silver in freeski big air. Canada’s Megan Oldham won the gold medal on Monday. Oldham topped the 10-woman final with a combined score of 180.75 points from two jumps. Gu was next with 179. Italy’s Flora Tabanelli took bronze while competing with an injured ACL.

n Austria won the first Olympic men’s super team ski jumping event. A snow squall forced officials to end the competition early on Monday. Judges used second-round standings to award medals, giving Poland silver and Norway bronze.

n Loic Meillard of Switzerland used a strong second run to win the men’s slalom on a day that saw Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen fall in the first run, ending his bid for another Olympic gold. The event closed out the men’s Alpine program at the Milan Cortina Games. Meillard added gold to a silver he won in the team combined and bronze from the giant slalom. Meillard finished in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 53.61 seconds. He edged Fabio Gstrein of Austria by 0.35 seconds.

n Dutch star Xandra Velzeboer won the 1,000 meters gold medal in women’s short track speedskating four days after topping the podium in the 500. Velzeboer finished first in the final in 1 minute, 28.437 seconds, with Canada’s Courtney Sarault in second for the silver medal.