In ice dance debut at Worlds, Takahashi Daisuke says 'I feel like I finally belong in this company'

Figure skating legend Takahashi Daisuke is still having first-time experiences in the sport.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic bronze medallist and world champion from later that season in men's singles, Takahashi is two years after making his foray into ice dance with Japanese partner Muramoto Kana.

The duo made their debut at the World Figure Skating Championships as a team on Friday (25 March), scoring a 67.77 in the rhythm dance and qualifying for Saturday's free dance.

Moreover, Takahashi, who turned 36 earlier this month, said he's finally feeling at home in the ice dance discipline.

"It’s been a while since I last competed at the worlds," he told reporters in Japanese. "It’s a weird feeling because the ice dance is definitely different and feels new, but at the same time, it feels like I never left the sport]. It’s been two years since I’ve been in ice dance but for the first time, I feel like I finally belong in this company, in this field."

Takahashi left singles after the 2013-14 season before returning to Japanese nationals in 2019. He won a silver medal there, then made the transition to dance.

"When our name was called during warmups and I saw the way the crowd reacted to Daisuke, it just reminded me of how great he is and how the whole world knows him," said Muramoto, who previously skated with Chris Reed. "I thought 'Wow.' We’re in the free dance now and while we have bigger goals, we’ll try not to think about it and go all out."

Muramoto/ Takahashi look forward to free dance

Muramoto/Takahashi fell short in qualifying for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 earlier this season, making a big mistake at the qualifying event - Japanese nationals.

Takahashi had a mistake on his twizzle sequence on Friday, falling out of the second twizzle as he lost his balance.

"Big mistake on my part in the twizzle, but apart from that I thought we were pretty solid," Takahashi said of their "Sorani Bushi" and "Koto" rhythm dance. "It was mostly mental. I’ve been a little unsure on the second twizzle in practice all long. But our performance overall was good. I was trying to be too perfect, I think."

Added Muramoto: "We were confident and calm and despite the mistake I thought we were good for the most part. For the free we will change the lift and bits and pieces of the program. The free will be very different, a lot of ballet elements. Hopefully we can put on a performance that will get the crowd into it."