After a whirlwind of a week trying to locate the dresses U.S. figure skater Christina Carreira will wear for the 2026 Winter Olympics, they have been found and will make it to Milano Cortina.
Lisa McKinnon, who designed the costumes, told USA TODAY Sports on the morning of Friday, Jan. 30 that the dresses were found at a FedEx hub in Memphis thanks to a ‘friend of a friend within U.S. Figure Skating,’ who was able to connect with someone at the hub and found the package. She added it will be delivered to Carreira’s team and they will be taking it to Italy.
‘Our small, but mighty, skating community has come together and through a friend of a friend within US Figure Skating, whom had a colleague in Memphis that knew someone that worked at the hub and that could physically go find the package, it was found late last night and is en route for delivery today! Thank you!!!’
It’s the perfect scenario as Carreira headed to Milano Cortina without the dresses after a shipping mix-up. A costume designer based in Los Angeles, McKinnon 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 were apparently stuck at a FedEx facility in Memphis.
‘The issue here was that they couldn’t tell us exactly where the package is,’ McKinnon told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday, Jan. 29. ‘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.’
It avoids a doomsday scenario for McKinnon and Carreira. They were hoping they would be located soon enough so someone could bring it. If they weren’t found, then McKinnon was planning to make the dresses again, which would have been ‘very difficult to do because it’s time consuming and we have no time.’
The designer noted the situation could come off as insensitive, realizing there are bigger problems going on in the Memphis region as winter storms have plagued most of the country. It has resulted 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 didn’t want Carreira to have such a major problem in one of the biggest moments of her life.
Now, it appears Carreira will be set to go when competition begins at the 2026 Winter Olympics. She is an ice dance skater who partners with Anthony Ponomarenko.