Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2022 0:14:32 GMT
Canadian figure skating champion Keegan Messing looks set to win his race against time to compete at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Operation 'Get Messing to Beijing' looks like it's going to be successful after Messing tested negative for COVID one final time and boarded a plane in Montreal en route to Beijing via Milan.
That plane is scheduled to land in the Chinese capital on the morning of Monday 7 February, just in time for the men's competition which begins with the short program on Tuesday 8 February.
Messing's Olympics looked in doubt when he tested positive just days out from the beginning of the Games, but now has tested negative for a fourth time - and should make the men's competition.
"He should be here the morning of the 7th, which is the day before," Canada's high performance director Mike Slipchuk told Olympics.com on the ground in Beijing.
"It was a struggle to find a flight. We found one way to get here on that date, so thank God we're able to get it. Wow."
"You know, both him and Ralph (Burghart) are so easygoing and low key," continues Slipchuk, "they're very thankful for for everything everyone's done for them.
"They've been putting them through three tests a day right now just to make sure they were negative. So he's had two to three negatives every day for the last three days.
"They're very resilient. He just wants to get here."
Messing missed the team competition which opened the figure skating in China.
Team Canada has been facilitating Messing's training while under quarantine, at his hotel he's been using the stairs with a security guard and was also given ice time alone.