Curling-Italian mixed doubles pair excited for 'special' title defence

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 4 - Italy's Olympic mixed doubles curling champions Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner will launch their title defence this week at the Milano Cortina Games, with the pair delighted to be competing on home ice and in front of local fans.

Constantini and Mosaner teamed up to secure Italy's first curling medal four years ago in Beijing, and will be among the favourites in Cortina d'Ampezzo after winning the world championships last year.

"For me, it's the first time we compete at the Olympics at home. So it will be something special and, of course, a lot of emotion," Mosaner said on Wednesday.

"The atmosphere is really nice. The arena, the sights look good. We'll have a lot of crowd and fans coming here and cheering for us. It will be something for sure unforgettable."

Constantini, who is from Cortina and developed her skills at the very Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium where they'll compete, said the tournament would raise the profile of mixed doubles curling in the country.

"It will be the first time maybe that Italy will really have a mixed doubles competition at this level here," Constantini said.

"It will be really important for also growing our movement of mixed doubles in Italy."

The pair reunited in 2025 after parting ways for three years following their Beijing triumph.

When asked if they had fully restored their understanding or if there was still work to be done, Mosaner said: "There is always something to work on, yeah.

"But I think we prepared very well before coming here. So let's see, tomorrow we start with the first game and we'll take it game by game."

The Italian duo face South Korea's Jeong Yeong-seok and Kim Seon-yeong in their first round-robin match on Thursday, before returning to the ice a few hours later to take on Canada's Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman. REUTERS