The women's luge singles competition of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics will reach its penultimate stage Tuesday morning as the top stars compete in the final two runs of the event at the Sanki Sliding Center in Rosa Khutor.

Natalie Geisenberger, who was considered as the favorite heading into the competition, lived up to the billing during the first two runs on Monday, clocking 49.891 and 49.923 seconds in run 1 and 2, respectively.

Geisenberger, the bronze medalist during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, finished her two trips in 1:39:814, gaining a comfortable lead over her closest competitors: compatriot Tatjana Huefner and Erin Hamlin of the United States.

"I had two excellent runs tonight especially the first one, which was almost perfect," Geisenberger said in an Associated Press interview via ESPN. "The second one was a little bit worse, but good enough. I'm absolutely satisfied with both runs."

Huefner, who won the gold in Vancouver in 2010, struggled in the first run as well, finishing the course in 50.393 seconds, which was just the third-best time in the first run. The 30-year-old German bounced back in the second run at 50.187 seconds to finish the first two runs in 1:40:580, which is .766 seconds behind Geisenberger.

On the other hand, Hamlin, who is Team USA's best bet in the event, is currently in third place after finishing the first two runs in 1:40:632—.818 seconds behind Geisenberger and .052 seconds behind Huefner.

Barring any setbacks, the 27-year-old American is on pace to become the first American to bag an Olympic medal in a luge singles competition. Hamlin has a good shot to win either silver or bronze, and even gold, should Geisenberger suffer a monumental collapse on Tuesday, but Hamlin said that she is not thinking of making history for Team USA.

"I don't think, 'Oh, I want to make history' as much as I want to get a medal," Hamlin said. "I did once before and I didn't even think about it then, so maybe that's the way to go. I'm just trying to set everything up, have fun, and be happy with my runs. That's the bottom line."

Run 3 will start at 9:30 a.m. EST while run 4 is scheduled to begin at 11:20 a.m. EST. Live streaming will be available at NBC Olympics Live Extra, while the complete start list of both runs and running scores can be viewed at the official website of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.