US figure skater heads to Winter Olympics without costumes. Now what?

Christina Carreira is on her strategy to her first Winter Olympics, however she is en path to Milano Cortina with out some crucial gadgets: her costumes.

The ice dance skater who companions with Anthony Ponomarenko would not have what she is going to put on for competitors in her possession after a mix-up with transport, inflicting quite a lot of stress for her and the designer with the 2026 Winter Olympics per week from starting.

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Lisa McKinnon, a fancy dress designer primarily based in Los Angeles, designed Carreira’s rhythm dance and free dance costumes and despatched them out on Saturday, Jan. 24 to have them delivered to Carreira by Monday, Jan. 26. Nevertheless, the costumes have apparently been caught at a FedEx facility in Memphis, though there isn’t a affirmation they’re there.

“The problem right here was that they could not inform us precisely the place the package deal is,” McKinnon informed USA TODAY Sports activities. “They have been saying, ‘Effectively, we expect it is in Memphis. It looks like it was on the airplane to Memphis, however we’re undecided, as a result of the monitoring has not been up to date.’ So, they simply stopped scanning the package deal.”

Carreira posted on TikTok on Thursday, Jan. 29, saying she was leaving for the Video games later within the day, as have been a number of different skaters. She famous she did not have the costumes and hoped to choose them up earlier than leaving, with the caption “@fedex please pull by way of with my attire.”

As of 10 p.m. ET on Thursday, the situation of the attire remains to be unknown. USA TODAY Sports activities has reached out to FedEx and U.S. Determine Skating for remark.

McKinnon mentioned her and Carreira’s mom have been attempting to get constant updates however to no avail. The designer then took to social media to ask for assist, which she added has led to “loads of excessive up FedEx folks” reaching out “making certain us that they are doing every thing they will to determine it out.”

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The determine skating portion of the 2026 Winter Olympics begins on Feb. 6 with the crew occasion, and the ice dance competitors begins on Feb. 9, however everybody concerned desires to ensure the costume matches and there aren’t any points previous to competing.

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See who made Group USA’s Olympic determine skating roster for Italy

Ice Dance: Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik

Ice Dance: Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko

Pairs: Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe

The plan for Christine Carreira’s attire

McKinnon mentioned if FedEx is ready to find the attire, she is going to work on a plan to have them despatched to Italy. If it seems they are not in Memphis or ended up again in Los Angeles, she is understanding who she might give them to so as to get them to Milano Cortina.

If no particular reply comes by the tip of Friday, Jan. 30, then her and a crew are able to make the attire another time.

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“We’re going to attempt to do the very best we will to make two new costumes, which is totally insane, and it’s extremely troublesome to do as a result of it is time consuming and we now have no time,” McKinnon mentioned. “Someway we simply determined immediately that, OK, that is simply what we now have to do.”

The designer understands the plea might come off as insensitive. She emphasised there are larger issues occurring within the Memphis area as winter storms have plagued many of the nation, leading to deaths in addition to extraordinarily troublesome and harmful journey situations, with extra storms on the way in which. She desires to be delicate concerning the state of affairs, however she additionally would not need Carreira to have such a significant drawback in one of many greatest moments of her life.

“She’s labored her entire life to get to the Olympics,” McKinnon mentioned. “Now swiftly it is like, oh my goodness, her costumes are nowhere to be discovered.

“We’re able to do every thing that we have to. It is not the very best case state of affairs, clearly, for anybody. However I actually hope that she could have one thing to put on.”

This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Christina Carreira heads to 2026 Winter Olympics with out costumes

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