Kana Muramoto

Personal life

Kana Muramoto was born on March 3, 1993, in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan. In 2011, she graduated from Canadian Academy, an international school in Kobe, Japan.

Career

Early career

Muramoto began learning to skate in 1998. Through the 2013–2014 season, she competed in ladies' singles, coached by Mie Hamada and Yamato Tamura. She won the silver medal at the 2011 Triglav Trophy and bronze at the 2011 Crystal Skate of Romania.

In the 2014–2015 season, Muramoto began appearing in ice dancing with Hiroichi Noguchi. The two placed fourth at the 2014 Tallinn Trophy and took the bronze medal at the Japan Championships.

2015–2016 season: Debut of Muramoto/Reed

On June 17, 2015, Muramoto and Chris Reed announced that they would compete together, coached by Marina Zueva, Oleg Epstein, and Massimo Scali in Canton, Michigan.

Making their international debut, Muramoto/Reed placed 7th at the 2015 NHK Trophy in November. The following month, they won the Japanese national title. In January 2016, the duo took silver at the Toruń Cup in Poland. They placed 7th at the 2016 Four Continents Championships in February in Taipei, Taiwan. In March, they placed 16th in the short dance, 14th in the free dance, and 15th overall at the 2016 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts.

2016–2017 season

Muramoto/Reed won silver at the 2016 CS U.S. Classic in September and placed 8th at the 2016 Skate America in October. They withdrew from their November Grand Prix event, the 2016 NHK Trophy. After winning their second national title, the duo took bronze at the 2017 Toruń Cup.

In February, Muramoto/Reed placed 9th at the 2017 Four Continents Championships in Gangneung, South Korea, and won silver at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan. In March, they placed 23rd in the short dance at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. As a result, they did not advance to the final segment and missed qualifying for the Olympics.

2017–2018 season: Pyeongchang Olympics

Muramoto/Reed began their season in September, taking bronze at the 2017 CS U.S. Classic. At the end of the month, they competed at the 2017 Nebelhorn Trophy, the final qualifying opportunity for the Olympics. The two won the silver medal and secured one Olympic spot in the ice dance discipline for Japan. In November, they appeared at a pair of Grand Prix events, finishing 9th at the 2017 NHK Trophy and 7th at the 2017 Skate America. They then won their third national title, outscoring the silver medalists by nearly 17 points.

In January, Muramoto/Reed won the bronze medal at the 2018 Four Continents Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. In February, they competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. They placed 15th in the short dance, 13th in the free dance, and 15th overall. The following month, they finished 11th at the 2018 World Championships in Milan, Italy.

2018–2019 season: End of Muramoto/Reed

Muramoto/Reed were assigned to the 2018 NHK Trophy and 2018 Rostelecom Cup. However, on August 9, 2018, Japanese news media reported that they had ended their partnership and that Muramoto planned to search for a new partner.

2020–2021 season: Debut of Muramoto/Takahashi

In September 2019, Muramoto formed a new partnership with former Japanese singles skater Daisuke Takahashi, with plans to debut in the fall of 2020. The decision of Takahashi, a former Olympic bronze medalist and World champion in men's singles, to switch to ice dance attracted considerable media attention both in Japan and abroad. The two began training in Florida under Marina Zoueva, the coach of Olympic champions Virtue/Moir and Davis/White.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Prix was assigned based primarily on geographic location. Muramoto/Takahashi nevertheless traveled from Florida to Japan to make their debut at the 2020 NHK Trophy, in a field consisting of three Japanese dance teams. They were second in the rhythm dance, six points behind the reigning national champions, Komatsubara/Koleto and narrowly ahead of reigning national silver medalists Fukase/Cho. They placed third in the free dance, winning the bronze medal overall. Muramoto said she felt they could do better at their next competition.

Making their Japan Championships debut, Muramoto/Takahashi placed second in the rhythm dance, less than four points behind Komatsubara/Koleto. They were third in the free dance, winning the silver medal overall. They were named as first alternates to the World team. In February, they were forced to withdraw as alternates due to a knee injury to Muramoto and were replaced by bronze medalists Fukase/Cho.

2021–2022 season: Four Continents silver

Muramoto/Takahashi were again assigned to begin the season at the 2021 NHK Trophy, their lone assignment on the Grand Prix for the year. Sixth in both segments, they were sixth overall, defeating domestic rivals Komatsubara/Koleto by 7.30 points. Both expressed satisfaction with the results, but Takahashi said, "there is still a large gap we want to close to the top teams." They went on to win a silver medal at the 2021 CS Warsaw Cup.

The 2021–22 Japan Championships, the final national qualification event for the 2022 Winter Olympics, pitted Muramoto/Takahashi against Komatsubara/Koleto for the second time that season. Muramoto and Takahashi both fell in the rhythm dance, as a result placing second in that segment, five points back of their rivals. They won the free dance but took the silver medal overall for the second consecutive year and were subsequently named as alternates for the Japanese Olympic team. They were instead assigned to make their World Championship debut later in the season and were named to compete at the Four Continents Championships as well.

Muramoto/Takahashi won the silver medal at Four Continents, placing second in both segments. Muramoto, reflecting on her prior medal at the event, said, "I share precious memories with Chris regarding ice dancing, and we were also aiming for a victory. But I am also very happy that I was able to reach the podium with Dai and compete with the world."

The team concluded the season at the 2022 World Championships, held in Montpellier with Russian dance teams absent due to the International Skating Union banning all Russian athletes due to their country's invasion of Ukraine. Qualifying to the free dance, Muramoto/Takahashi finished sixteenth.

2022–2023 season: First international gold

At the end of May, Muramoto/Takahashi confirmed that they would continue through the 2022–2023 season.

After a sixth-place finish at the 2022 Skate America, they went on to compete at the 2022 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge, where they earned their first gold medal as a team. They then finished sixth at the 2022 NHK Trophy, their second Grand Prix.

At the 2022–23 Japan Championships, Muramoto/Takahashi became national champions for the first time and were subsequently named to compete at the 2023 World Championships and at the 2023 Four Continents Championships.

The team encountered difficulties at the Four Continents Championships, beginning in the rhythm dance, where Muramoto fell in the midst of their midline step sequence. Takahashi fell twice in the second half of their free dance. They finished ninth at the event.

At the 2023 World Championships, which were held on home ice in Saitama, Muramoto/Takahashi notably finished eleventh, which, tied with Muramoto/Reed in 2018, meant the highest placement of a Japanese ice dance team at a World Championships. They also achieved a personal best in the free dance. Muramoto opined afterward that "this season has been really tough, but I am very happy."

Muramoto/Takahashi were Team Japan's dance entry at the 2023 World Team Trophy, coming fourth in the rhythm dance. Muramoto said she did not want to look for a new partner to compete with because she could not imagine a better partner than Takahashi and would therefore prefer to pursue a professional show career with him.

Post-competitive career

Since retiring from competitive figure skating, Muramoto has performed solo and with Takahashi in ice shows such as the innovative cross-genre show Hyoen, Prince Ice World, Shizuka Arakawa's Friends on Ice and Daisuke Takahashi's Kassouya. She co-choreographed a program with Takahashi titled Symmetry, which they debuted during the Prince Ice World - Broadway Rocks! tour. For Friends on Ice 2024, Muramoto created her own solo show program Fortitude. Since 2023 she has choreographed group numbers for Friends on Ice. In 2025 she choreographed a group number to the song Silhouette by AQUILO for the Stars on Ice Japan tour, featuring Mao Asada, Daisuke Takahashi, Kazuki Tomono and herself. The same year she also provided choreography for the Hyoen production "Kagamon no Yasha".

In addition she choreographed competitive and show programs for several figure skaters, including the following clients:

• Shizuka Arakawa
• Mao Asada
• Marin Honda
• Sumika Kanazawa
• Yuto Kishina
• Riria Kono
• Ikura Kushida / Koshiro Shimada
• Mai Mihara
• Haruna Murakami
• Shunsuke Nakamura
• Kosho Oshima
• Kaori Sakamoto
• Koshiro Shimada
• Mao Shimada
• Sena Takahashi
• Kazuki Tomono
• Rena Uezono
• Rinka Watanabe
• Thai national figure skating team

In October 2024 Muramoto joined forces with her ice dance partner Daisuke Takahashi, Olympic champion Shizuka Arakawa, Takahito Mura, Kazuki Tomono, Keiji Tanaka, Yuna Aoki, Kosho Oshima, Yuto Kishina and Rena Uezono to launch the members-only official fan community F-Ske on the platform FANICON.

Programs

With Takahashi

With Reed

With Noguchi

Ladies' singles

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

With Takahashi

With Reed

With Noguchi

Ladies' singles

Detailed results

With Takahashi

References

References

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