Chris Reed

I'll be honest, ice dance isn't a sport I follow closely, but Chris Reed is one of those names that just lodges itself in your chest. An American-born skater who chose to represent Japan and spent years gliding across the ice with his sister Cathy, he carried a whole discipline almost single-handedly during an era when Japanese ice dance barely registered on the world stage. At 185cm he had this easy, towering elegance, the kind of partner who makes the lift look effortless and lets his partner shine. There's something quietly heroic about doing the unglamorous, grinding work of building a tradition from near scratch. And then he was gone in 2020, barely thirty, which still feels impossible for someone whose whole life was discipline and motion. I don't want to forget him, and I don't think the sport will either.

Chris Reed (July 7, 1989 – March 14, 2020) was a professional ice dancer who competed representing Japan. Standing 185 cm tall, he is best known for partnering with his sister in ice dance competition. He passed away on March 14, 2020, at age 30. He maintained an official website at reeds.ice-dance.com during his career.

Name (English)

Chris Reed

Name (Japanese)

クリス・リード

Reading

くりす・りーど

Born

July 7, 1989 – March 14, 2020

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Snake (巳)

Origin

Japan

Height

185 cm

Occupation

Ice dancer

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://reeds.ice-dance.com/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89

Tags

• Ice dancer

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.