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.”

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

Italy's Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini and Sweden's Isabella Wranaa and Rasmus Wranaa compete during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Italy's Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner compete during a curling mixed doubles round robin session against Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Italy's Stefania Constantini celebrates their win during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Estonia, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Italy's Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini strategize during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Sweden, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Italy's Stefania Constantini in action during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Estonia, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

President Donald Trump's administration can continue to detain immigrants without bond, marking a major legal victory for the federal immigration agenda and countering a slew of recent lower court decisions across the country that argued the practice is illegal.

A panel of judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday evening that the Department of Homeland Security's decision to deny bond hearings to immigrants arrested across the country is consistent with the constitution and federal immigration law.

Specifically, circuit judge Edith H. Jones wrote in the 2-1 majority opinion that the government correctly interpreted the Immigration and Nationality Act by asserting that “unadmitted aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States are ineligible for release on bond, regardless of how long they have resided inside the United States."

Under past administrations, most noncitizens with no criminal record who were arrested away from the border had an opportunity to request a bond hearing while their cases wound through immigration court. Historically, bond was often granted to those without criminal convictions who were not flight risks, and mandatory detention was limited to recent border crossers.

"That prior Administrations decided to use less than their full enforcement authority under" the law “does not mean they lacked the authority to do more,” Jones wrote.

The plaintiffs in the two separate cases filed last year against the Trump administration were both Mexican nationals who had both lived in the United States for over 10 years and weren't flight risks, their attorneys argued. Neither man had a criminal record, and both were jailed for months last year before a lower Texas court granted them bond in October.

The Trump White House reversed that policy in favor of mandatory detention in July, reversing almost 30 years of precedent under both Democrat and Republican administrations.

Friday's ruling also bucks a November district court decision in California, which granted detained immigrants with no criminal history the opportunity to request a bond hearing and had implications for noncitizens held in detention nationwide.

Circuit Judge Dana M. Douglas wrote the lone dissent in Friday's decision.

The elected congress members who passed the Immigration and Nationality Act “would be surprised to learn it had also required the detention without bond of two million people,” Douglas wrote, adding that many of the people detained are “the spouses, mothers, fathers, and grandparents of American citizens.”

She went on to argue that the federal government was overriding the lawmaking process with DHS' new immigration detention policy that denies detained immigrants bond.

“Because I would reject the government’s invitation to rubber stamp its proposed legislation by executive fiat, I dissent,” Douglas wrote.

Douglas' opinion echoed widespread tensions between the Trump administration and federal judges around the country, who have increasingly accused the administration of flouting court orders.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the decision as “a significant blow against activist judges who have been undermining our efforts to make America safe again at every turn."

“We will continue vindicating President Trump’s law and order agenda in courtrooms across the country,” Bondi wrote on the social media platform X.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)