ATLANTA — Just a few weeks before the Olympic qualifier, a professional skier and her family are searching for her sporting equipment after she said her bags were stolen in Atlanta.
In a Wednesday Instagram post, Dani Loeb said her family was only in Atlanta for about an hour when her bags were taken.
Loeb is a two-year member of the United States National Ski Team. An Olympic hopeful and Alabama native, she's the first person from the state to make the team.
"Ready to go back … hasn’t even been an hour in Atlanta and my bags have already been stolen," Loeb wrote in the post.
Loeb told 11Alive she flew into Atlanta after wrapping up the World Cup in Finland. Her mother, who came to the Peach State two hours before she arrived, took all of Loeb's luggage to make the athlete's journey easier.
While her mother was staying at a family friend's condo on Peachtree Road, Loeb said someone broke into their car and took all of their luggage — including her skiing equipment.
A U.S. Ski Team backpack, with her team uniform and jackets, and two sets of custom skis were taken, according to Loeb. She estimates the value of her skis alone to be over $3,200.
"My helmet, my jumping glasses, all of the things that I need to perform my best," she said.
Loeb's gear was taken just a few weeks before the upcoming Olympic qualifier, which she was planning to compete in next January in Canada. Loeb said finding her skis is vital to participate.
"The one thing I care about the most is the skis because I can get a new uniform, new helmet and things like that, but the skis are really difficult to get because they're from Switzerland and we're not really near Switzerland," she said.
Loeb said she was initially "freaking out" about how she was going to compete and train, but now she's trying to focus on what she can learn from this experience.
Her teammates are letting her borrow their skis until she can find her own pair. Loeb's first day back at training is just two days after Christmas and the team leaves for Canada around New Year's Eve.
Loeb calls the theft "bad timing" and has a message for the person who took her gear.
"Will you please give me my skis back? I mean I hope — you obviously needed my stuff more than I did or else you wouldn't have stolen it, I hope. So, all I ask for is my skis back," she said.
The family told reporters at WSFA, the NBC-affiliate in Montgomery, Alabama, they have filed a police report on the matter and anyone with information on where Loeb's ski gear may be is asked to call 334-207-8707.
11Alive reached out to Atlanta Police for further information, but officials said further details will not be available until Monday.