“The biggest factor was that I felt the limit in my right knee. I felt that my body couldn’t keep up with the technical aspects of achieving level of competitive performance.” Kana Muramoto and Daisuke Takahashi about their retirement
Kana Muramoto and Daisuke Takahashi about their decision to retire from competitive sport.
source: hochi.news / hochi.news
Kana Muramoto and Daisuke Takahashi announced their retirement at a press conference held in Tokyo on May 2nd.
“After experiencing many things in our third season, we decided to retire from ice dance competition.” Takahashi said.
Muramoto said with a smile, “We’ve worked hard together. I’m really grateful to Daichan.”
According to Takahashi, he informed Muramoto of his intention to retire after the Four Continents Championships in February. “The biggest factor was that I felt the limit in my right knee. As I trained for competition-level performances, I felt that my body couldn’t keep up with the technical aspects of achieving those levels,” he explained.
Muramoto said, “I’ve been watching him all along, and sometimes he couldn’t even walk or step onto the ice, but he would say, ‘Sorry, I can’t skate today.’ I felt like I wanted to lend him my knee. When I heard from Daisuke after the Four Continents that he was retiring this season, from the start of our partnership two years ago, I was always prepared for it. I feel that there is no better partner than Daichan and I want to create various works with him. I never thought about looking for a new partner. I feel like we accomplished everything we wanted to do together.”
Muramoto had some hesitation about inviting Takahashi to ice dancing at the beginning of their partnership. However, she said, “As we created various programs season by season, I felt that Daichan’s sensibility and the things I wanted to express matched well within me. Without directly saying it, the feeling of matching became stronger each season. The “Soran Bushi” program in the second season was a program with a great impact even worldwide. It became a turning point that made me want to create many programs that I have never seen before with Daichan.” They achieved 11th place, tying with the best performance by a Japanese team, at the World Championships in March. “This season, everyone said ‘wow’ about the rhythm dance. I didn’t expect to be able to skate the Phantom of the Opera with Daichan. As we created various programs, I thought that there probably won’t be a skater who can create works better than him,” she said, deeply moved.
Although the two will retire from competitions, the “KanaDai” pair will continue. Takahashi said, “As the ‘KanaDai’ pair, we want to perform together and I will also perform as Daisuke Takahashi.” Muramoto also said, “Daichan told me he still wants to perform as ‘KanaDai’ and I also had that feeling. I had already decided not to look for a new partner. I want to try various challenges and since he said that ‘Kana can captivate an audience alone,’ I want to express myself as a skater and performer.”
Related topics: Kana Muramoto Daisuke Takahashi
Leave a Reply