The women's freestyle skiing moguls event of the 2014 Winter Olympics got underway on Thursday. And as expected, Hannah Kearney of Team USA sent a strong message to the rest of the field.

Kearney, who won the gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, topped the first qualifying round as she scored 23.05 after a near-flawless initial run.

The 27-year-old Kearney showed why she is expected to successfully defend the title she won in her home country four years ago as she easily completed a nearly perfect back layout and 360 grab jumps, while also running through the course quicker than expected.

Experts have predicted Kearney will walk away with her second-straight gold-medal finish in the Winter Games, but Canadian sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe loom as big threats to Kearney's title-retention bid.

Chloe Dufour-Lapointe ended up second in the qualification round with a score of 22.64, while Justine Dufour-Lapointe finished third with a score of 22.28.

The 24-year-old sister of Chloe and Justine also made her mark in Thursday's qualifying round as she ended up eighth with 20.88 points, which was enough for her to advance to the Moguls finals on Saturday.

But despite the strong showing from the Canadian trio, Kearney is still confident about her chances of ruling the event for the second-straight edition of the Winter Games.

Kearney also added that the new format, which will force skiers to participate in at least three more rounds on Saturday, could work in their favor. The popular American mogul skier expressed confidence that Team USA will be up to the task moving forward.

"It's good for us," Kearney told LA Times when asked about the condensed schedule of the event. "I can say quite confidently that Team USA is the most fit, strongest team out there. We're as prepared as possible to handle several days of competition in a row. Also, being veterans is helpful because you learn to just go with the flow."

The 2014 Sochi Olympics freestyle skiing moguls event will take a break on Friday. Action will resume on Saturday for the second Moguls qualification followed by the finals later in the day.

The complete moguls qualifying result 1 is available here along with the complete schedule of the event.