Christina Carreira is on her way to her first Winter Olympics, but she is en route to Milano Cortina without some very important items: her costumes.
The ice dance skater who partners with Anthony Ponomarenko doesn’t have what she will wear for competition in her possession after a mix-up with shipping, causing a great deal of stress for her and the designer with the 2026 Winter Olympics a week from beginning.
Lisa McKinnon, a costume designer based in Los Angeles, designed Carreira’s rhythm dance and free dance costumes and sent them out on Saturday, Jan. 24 to have them delivered to Carreira by Monday, Jan. 26. However, the costumes have apparently been stuck at a FedEx facility in Memphis, although there is no confirmation they are there.
‘The issue here was that they couldn’t tell us exactly where the package is,’ McKinnon told USA TODAY Sports. ‘They were saying, ‘Well, we think it’s in Memphis. It seems like it was on the plane to Memphis, but we’re not sure, because the tracking has not been updated.’ So, they just stopped scanning the package.’
As of 3 a.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 30, the location of the dresses is still unknown. USA TODAY Sports has reached out to FedEx.
McKinnon said her and Carreira’s mother have been trying to get consistent updates but to no avail. The designer then took to social media to ask for help, which she added has led to ‘a lot of high up FedEx people’ reaching out ‘ensuring us that they’re doing everything they can to figure it out.’
The figure skating portion of the 2026 Winter Olympics begins on Feb. 6 with the team event, and the ice dance competition begins on Feb. 9, but everyone involved wants to make sure the dress fits and there are no issues prior to competing.
The plan for Christine Carreira’s dresses
McKinnon said if FedEx is able to locate the dresses, she will work on a plan to have them sent to Italy. If it turns out they aren’t in Memphis or ended up back in Los Angeles, she is working out who she could give them to in order to get them to Milano Cortina.
If no definite answer comes by the end of Friday, Jan. 30, then her and a team are ready to make the dresses all over again.
‘We are going to try to do the best we can to make two new costumes, which is completely insane, and it’s very difficult to do because it’s time consuming and we have no time,’ McKinnon said. ‘Somehow we just decided today that, OK, this is just what we have to do.’
A U.S. Figure Skating spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports if the dresses cannot make it to Milan, Carreira will wear an old costume.
The designer understands the plea may come off as insensitive. She emphasized there are bigger problems going on in the Memphis region as winter storms have plagued most of the country, resulting in deaths as well as extremely difficult and dangerous travel conditions, with more storms on the way. She wants to be sensitive about the situation, but she also doesn’t want Carreira to have such a major problem in one of the biggest moments of her life.
‘She’s worked her whole life to get to the Olympics,’ McKinnon said. ‘Now all of a sudden it’s like, oh my goodness, her costumes are nowhere to be found.
‘We’re ready to do everything that we need to. It’s not the best case scenario, obviously, for anyone. But I really hope that she will have something to wear.’
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