Canadian freestyle skiing team loses equipment between Helsinki and Beijing
MONTREAL — The Canadian freestyle skiing team had a nightmarish couple of days trying to get from one competition site to another. And the news was even worse when they arrived in China to see their bags and skis didn’t make it.
The Canadian squad was in Finland for the moguls World Cup last weekend and were supposed to leave Helsinki on Tuesday to get to Beijing for an aerials World Cup this weekend. But the Finnish airline Finnair had to cancel their planned flight due to a major snowstorm. A day later, the team ended up in Seoul, South Korea, before finally arriving in China early Thursday morning without their equipment.
“I had one bag with my clothes, but the whole team, and also the Swiss team who ended up getting the same flights as us, we all lost our ski bags,” said aerials specialist Olivier Rochon. “Because of the travel issues, we lost a day off and a day of training.”
Rochon was still on a bus for a four-hour drive between Beijing and the Secret Garden ski resort when he spoke by phone with The Canadian Press.