The Sendai ice rink that is home to former Olympic figure skating champions Yuzuru Hanyu and Shizuka Arakawa temporarily halted operations because of a powerful earthquake that struck late Wednesday night off the coast of northeastern Japan.
Miyagi Prefecture's Ice Rink Sendai closed for safety reasons a day after a 7.4 magnitude quake hit off the coast of neighboring Fukushima Prefecture, triggering tsunami alerts, evacuation orders, power outages and concerns about the nuclear reactors in the area.
The region was devastated in 2011 by a magnitude 9.0 quake that triggered a massive tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people and caused meltdowns at a nuclear plant in Fukushima.
The rink where Hanyu and Arakawa practiced in their youth closed after the March 2011 disaster and did not reopen until July. Hanyu won gold in men's singles at Sochi 2014 and at Pyeongchang 2018. Arakawa won women's singles gold at the Turin Games in 2006.
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