The women's halfpipe skiing competitors will take the spotlight on Thursday in the freestyle skiing halfpipe event at the ongoing 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

American skiing star David Wise won the gold in the exciting men's halfpipe competition earlier this week, and his compatriot Maddie Bowman will look to make it a halfpipe gold medal sweep for Team USA.

Bowman is considered as the favorite to win the gold in the ladies' halfpipe event after her strong performances in recent competitions heading into the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

The 20-year-old American won her second straight gold medal in the Winter X Games, while also winning in the World Cup halfpipe stop in Breckenridge. Bowman also won the silver at Copper Mountain in the current World Cup season.

USA team members Brita Sigourney, Annalisa Drew, and Angeli VanLaanen are also considered as legitimate medal contenders. Sigourney is also coming off strong performances in recent competitions, winning the gold at Copper Mountain and finishing fifth in the 2014 X Games.

Standing in Team USA's way is Switzerland skier Virginie Faivre, who is considered as the strongest threat to Bowman's gold medal aspirations. Faivre, the top European Halfpipe skier, is the reigning FIS world champion.

The 31-year-old two-time halfpipe skiing world champion, who has been competing on the World Cup circuit over the past 11 years, also won the Sochi halfpipe test event last year.

Canadian skier Rosalind Groenewoud is also one of the competitors to watch on Thursday.

Groenewoud, the 2011 world champion and 2012 X Games winner, is coming off major knee surgeries, but she has been performing well in recent training runs.

The rest of the Canadian team is also expected to go all out as they are dedicating their performance to four-time X Games gold medalist Sarah Burke, who died in January 2012 after sustaining serious injuries following a devastating crash. Burke was one of the integral forces behind getting the halfpipe event included in Sochi Winter Games.

On Thursday morning, 23 of world's best skiers will compete in a two-run qualification round. The top 12 will advance to ski in the two-run finals. The qualification round starts at 9:30 a.m. EST, while the final round is scheduled at 12:30 p.m. EST.

Fans can catch the live stream through NBC Olympics Live Extra.

The 2014 Sochi Olympics official website provides the complete start list along with running results, while the competition is ongoing.