MILAN (AP) — It appears as if those troublemaking Minions will be taking the Olympic ice after all.

Spanish figure skater Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate said after practice early Thursday that he has received the necessary approval for three of the four music cuts he needs to perform his short program. The only piece missing from his medley is “Freedom” by Pharrell Williams, and the American musician and producer has been sympathetic to his plight.

“They are discussing it,” Sabate told The Associated Press and a few other reporters. “He seems to be OK, but there's problems because he's restricted by his label. A lot of technical stuff. But they are working to make it happen.”

Sabate was optimistic enough to practice his Minions-themed program shortly after 7 a.m. local time inside a nearly empty Milano Ice Skating Arena. The program opens with peels of laughter from the characters before going into music from the film franchise.

Training and practice sessions were underway a day ahead of the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics as mixed doubles curling round robin play and preliminary round women's ice hockey matches began.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

MILAN (AP) — Show respect. Be humble and a good Olympic partner. Keep Team USA athletes safe.

United States Olympic leaders set out goals Thursday for the Milan Cortina Winter Games that arrive during what they acknowledged is “a period of geopolitical turmoil.”

The days before the opening ceremony Friday saw street protests in Milan against a U.S. federal security plan involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games quizzed by African members of the IOC about the visa regime for entering the country.

“We can’t control headlines that are extraneous to the efforts that we have,” said Gene Sykes, an International Olympic Committee member who is president of the U.S. national Olympic body.

LIVIGNO - The Milan Cortina Olympics come in various options, from the winter wonderland that is Livigno to the big city of Milan. Not to mention Cortina d’Ampezzo and several other venues.

Livigno, located some 1,816 metres above sea level and nestled in the Rhaetian Alps near the Swiss border, offers the picture-postcard version of the games.

Getting there is a challenge, but the journey and destination are worth it

From Milan, it's a train and two bus rides. Once you leave the Milan suburbs, you get picturesque lake views and then start climbing.

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO - Canadian curlers Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman succeeded in their first true test of the mixed doubles competition at the Winter Olympics on Thursday. 

A bigger challenge awaits in the evening session. 

The husband-and-wife duo from Chestermere, Alta., never trailed in a 6-3 win over Norway in afternoon round-robin play at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. 

"A gritty win and there's going to have to be a few more of those, I think this week," Gallant said. "So that's a good sign."

MILAN (AP) — The powerful U.S. figure skating squad will have its first opportunity to shine at the Winter Olympics on Friday when the team competition begins at the Milano Ice Skating Arena just hours before the opening ceremony.

The Americans are the defending champions in the event. After they were denied a medal ceremony four years ago in Beijing because of a lengthy investigation into Russian doping, which kept them from receiving their gold medals until the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, so it would be especially meaningful to win another team title at the Milan Cortina Games.

“Looking back, I don't think it was bittersweet, necessarily,” said Madison Chock, who along with partner Evan Bates will perform their rhythm dance Friday. “We're still Olympic champions. We got our medals. But it was different.”

One thing that isn't different: the strength of the U.S. team.

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Will there be an Olympic spirit or will it seem like a bunch of individual world championships? Will a complicated transport network connecting far-flung venues run smoothly?

Will crowds fill the arenas, rinks and stadiums despite sluggish advance ticket sales? Will the controversial sliding venue and main hockey arena feel finished following construction delays? Will the locals remain more interested in soccer than snow and ice sports?

The answers to these and many other questions that shadowed the preparation of the Milan Cortina Olympics are about to be answered. 

When the XXV Winter Games kick off with the opening ceremony at the San Siro soccer stadium on Friday, it won’t just be the athletes who are going to be tested. It’s a new era for the entire Olympic movement.

MILAN (AP) — Lina Ljungblom scored two goals to lift Sweden to a 4-1 comeback win over Germany in the opening game of the Olympic women's hockey tournament Thursday.

Katarina Jobst-Smith's goal early in the first period gave Germany the lead before Ljungblom's two goals turned the game around and Mira Jungaker and Thea Johansson extended the Swedes' lead. Sweden outshot Germany 37-16 and Lisa Johansson and Jenna Raunio each had two assists. 

Beating Germany is a big step in Sweden's push to win Group B, where the lower-ranked teams play, and secure a better seeding for the quarterfinals. All five teams in Group A and the top three in Group B make the playoffs.

Also Thursday, Vice President JD Vance plans to watch as the United States women's team begins its Olympic campaign against Czechia. 

MILAN (AP) — Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's coach from the Beijing Games is back at the Winter Olympics, and World Anti-Doping Agency president Witold Banka isn’t happy about it.

Banka said Thursday he's not comfortable with Eteri Tutberidze’s presence at the Milan Cortina Olympics. She is accredited with Georgia as the coach of European champion Nika Egadze.

In 2022, Tutberidze was coaching Valieva, the young Russian whose positive doping test overshadowed the Games.

Valieva, then aged 15, was at the center of a legal battle in Beijing when a sample she gave two months earlier tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. The revelation came after Valieva won team gold with other Russian skaters. She was later disqualified from that event, which upgraded the United States to gold. Valieva was a contender for the women’s gold medal but placed fourth and was criticized rink-side by Tutberidze.

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Skiers from host Italy still trying to secure starting spots led the second downhill training session at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday and Austria’s Daniel Hemetsberger crashed.

Mattia Casse posted the fastest time but missed a gate midway down. Teammates Florian Schieder and Giovanni Franzoni were second and third, respectively.

Franzoni, the breakout star of the Italian team who recently won the downhill in Kitzbuhel, Austria, already has a starting spot, along with Dominik Paris, who holds the Bormio record with seven World Cup victories. Casse, Schieder and Christof Innerhofer — who was seventh — are vying for the last two spots.

Favorites like Marco Odermatt and Ryan Cochran-Siegle, the American who led the opening session Wednesday, tested only portions of the Stelvio course and otherwise stood up out of their tuck positions.