Miura Kao readies for new season at Tokyo Tatsumi Ice Arena; mentored by Malinin and family ahead of season

ISU Challenger Series Kinoshita Group Cup 2026: Miura Kao readies for new season at the school of Ilia Malinin

After a humbling Olympic debut at Milano Cortina 2026, the mercurial Japanese star sought the tutelage of someone who knows all about picking up the pieces in figure skating - Ilia Malinin.

For his season of redemption, Miura Kao has turned to someone who knows the feeling all too well - a certain Ilia Malinin.

Miura appeared in his first Olympic Winter Games at Milano Cortina 2026, but it was far from memorable. His skates broke ahead of competition, and the Japanese skater was 22nd in the short program, finishing 13th overall after the free skate. The World Figure Skating Championships a month later turned out to be worse, Miura failing to even make the cut to contest the free.

Malinin has been in the same boat - if not a much bigger one.

The only man in history to land a quadruple Axel in competition and seven quads in a single program was widely tipped for a landslide men’s singles gold, but an error-filled free skate on the Milano Cortina Olympic ice saw the 21-year-old USA star finish 15th in the free, having been first after the short, to finish eighth overall. Team event gold medallist Malinin talked afterwards about feeling “overwhelmed” by pressure , but achieved some redemption by claiming his third straight world title a month later.

On Thursday (3 September), the eve of his 2026-27 season opener at the Kinoshita Group Cup Challenger Series event, Miura spoke about how he spent the last two weeks with Malinin and his Olympic skater parents, Roman Skorniakov and Tatiana Malinina , taking pages out of their skating bible for the new campaign.

“In that family, everyone is on the same page, and they all teach the same way,” Miura told media, including Olympics.com, at the Tokyo Tatsumi Ice Arena after official practise.

“And then you get individual tips from his dad or mom or Ilia himself, so it turned out to be a really rewarding time for me.

“On and off the ice, we spent a lot of time together. He took me to a lot of places when we weren’t on the ice and talked a lot about a lot of things.”

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Miura Kao went to school at the Malinin household this summer.

Miura said that spending an uninterrupted period with Malinin allowed him to truly understand the American’s mind and how the world free skate record-holder operates on a day-to-day basis, in detail.

For example, Malinin pointed out to Miura how Japanese skaters tend to take off on jumps vertically, suggesting to him that it is more efficient and less physically taxing to jump off a curve.

Miura hopes to flash some of what he learned from Malinin this week, when he will go toe-to-toe with Olympic bronze medallist Sato Shun , senior debutant Nakata Rio, and the Russian-born contingent returning to international competition this season.

“One of the things I found out is that he’s a real skate nut - otaku level. He studies a lot of skaters, even juniors. He watches so much because he loves skating that much. He’s so passionate about it, whether he’s skating himself or teaching to others. That’s something I really took away from him.

“He just rattles names of skaters one after another, offering specific examples. He knows the habits of Japanese skaters. He’s really smart. Like intelligent smart, which is why he is who he is.

“I think this will be an intense competition, and I want to go into it with a sense of purpose. I’m excited to find out how I stack up against this field and hopefully show all the things I learned in the States."

The two also had the levity to have a laugh at each other’s expense.

“He would have a dig at me by showing a parody of my skate on Tiktok,” Miura said. “It was good fun.”

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Picture by 2026 Getty Images

Picture by The Yomiuri Shimbun