Kana Muramoto

Muramoto began learning to skate in 1998.[4] Through the 2013–2014 season, she competed in ladies' singles, coached by Mie Hamada and Yamato Tamura.[5] 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.[6] The two placed fourth at the 2014 Tallinn Trophy and took the bronze medal at the Japan Championships.

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.[7]

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.

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.

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 medaland secured an Olympic spot for Japan. In November, they appeared at a pair of Grand Prix events, finishing 9th at the 2018 NHK Trophy and 7th at the 2017 Skate America. [8] 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.[9] 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.

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.[10]

In September 2019, it was announced that Muramoto had formed a new partnership with former Japanese singles skater Daisuke Takahashi, with plans to debut in the fall of 2020.[11] 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.[12]

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 only three Japanese dance teams. They were second in the rhythm dance, narrowly ahead of reigning national silver medalists Fukase/Cho but some six points behind the reigning national champions, Komatsubara/Koleto.[13] In the free dance, Takahashi fell out of his second set of twizzles, which combined with missed levels of some lift elements to drop them to third place. Winning the bronze medal, he called his mistakes unusual even in practice sessions, but a part of actually competing. Muramoto said she felt they could do better at their next competition.[14]

Making their Japan Championships debut, Muramoto/Takahashi placed second in the rhythm dance, less than four points behind Komatsubara/Koleto.[15] They were third in the free dance after Takahashi fell out of a lift and made a number of other errors, but won the silver medal overall due to Fukase/Cho also making errors.[16]