Cortina's curling darling Stefania Constantini is the focus of Italian fans in bid to advance

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO (AP) — There are four matches happening at once in Cortina's curling stadium, yet you’d hardly know it. All attention in the venue seems trained on young, high-ponytailed Stefania Constantini, the defending gold medalist who hails from Cortina and is battling for a spot in the next round of the competition.

Even with top contenders — the U.S. and Great Britain — broom to broom, Italian fans are dominating this arena. The crowds are chanting “Italia, Italia, Italia!," putting American and British contingents to shame. They're banging on the wooden barristers, sending reverberations ricocheting across the arena. With a tiny wave of her hand, the 26-year-old Constantini sends them into crazy cheers.

Constantini grew up in this tiny Tyrolean town, training on courts nestled between the high peaks of the Dolomites.

After her win with partner Amos Mosaner, from northern Italy, in Beijing 2022, these Olympics are widely seen as her chance to prove Italy's dominance in the event. But the team's on shaky ground in the standings after losing to the Swedes on Saturday and the Canadians a day earlier. The latest loss knocked the pair out of the top four. They need to avoid racking up more missteps if they hope to advance out of the round-robin phase and qualify for the playoffs.

“Today we struggled a little bit to adapt from the games yesterday to today,” Constantini said after her first match of the day.

“We have to restart,” agreed Mosaner. “Try to avoid the mistakes and make our best performance tonight and we’ll see about tomorrow.”

Before her gold-winning performance in Beijing, Constantini worked as a saleswoman in The North Face store on the Corso Italia — a job she kept until a month before the Beijing Games. Now, Constantini and Mosaner’s bid is spreading the curling gospel through Italy, where the sport had a limited fan base until recently.

Limited, that is, except for in Cortina. Turns out the tiny town is seen as the national cradle of the sport. Even its mayor, Gianluca Lorenzi, is a former member of Italy’s national team — and the son of the sport’s founding father in Italy.

That means the pressure is on for Constantini and Mosaner to perform. But, they say the high-stakes atmosphere in the arena doesn’t get to them. In fact, Constantini said, the cheering is what gets her through the games.

“It’s special,” she said. “Because they are really supporting us. It’s really good to play with this crowd.”

Later Saturday, Italy defeated Norway and has matches against Czechia and Great Britain set for Sunday.

“They seemed nervous today,” said Carla Pelosin, an Italian with the country's flag painted on her face who traveled to Cortina from the Venetian town of Noale to watch the duo. “But we’re confident in them for the coming days.”

Asked if she had a message for the athletes, Pelosin said: “I would just tell them just to give their best. The Italian people are confident in them and believe in them.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics