Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara became the first Japanese couple to triumph at the Four Continents competition on Saturday.
They overcame a few mistakes in their free skate to easily claim the title.
Kihara overshot on the last opening double axel.
Their triple salchow and triple flip were also in need of refinement, but the pair still earned 137.05 points (208.24 overall), easily beating Americans Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe.
“It was really difficult to skate at this altitude, but the crowd motivated us to keep going,” said Kihara.
Miura and Kihara had to withdraw from the Japanese championships when a winter storm caused them to lose their luggage en route from Canada, and with them their skates.
The duo are undefeated in international competition this year.
Chan and Howe were third after their short program. They rode a strong free skate to win the silver medal with 201.11 points.
“It was fabulous,” said Howe. It was definitely one of our best performances of the season. »
Canadian champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps finished third with 193.84 points.
Stellato-Dudek put his hand on their triple flip. The pair also struggled in the triple salchow: he crashed and she spun too much.