South Korea's Yuna Kim will look to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals when she skates in the free program of the 2014 Sochi Olympics women's figure skating on Thursday at the Iceberg Skating Palace.

Kim wowed the crowd with a terrific performance during the Short Program on Wednesday, scoring 74.92 to take an early lead in the women's figure skating competition.

Russia's Adelina Sotnikova also had an impressive routine to finish second in the short program with 74.64 points, followed by Italy's Carolina Kostner, who ended up third with 74.12 points. USA's Gracie Gold also stayed within striking distance after scoring 68.63 points.

The top four skaters after the short program are still in strong contention for the gold medal, particularly Kim, Sotnikova, and Kostner, who finished within less than a point of one another after Wednesday's short program portion.

Kim is still the hands-down favorite heading into the free program. The 23-year-old South Korean was a runaway winner during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where she broke the ISU records in the short program and free skating, as well as the combined total score.

However, Kim is facing a tougher road to winning the gold this year. As USA Today reported, Kim's lead against her three closest rivals will virtually be a non-factor heading into Thursday's free skate, and even USA's Gold still has a good shot at winning the coveted Olympic gold medal.

"That's a virtual tie for first, just a hiccup separating the top three women. And Gold's margin of 5½ points from third place is equal to the value of one jump. She's most definitely in the mix for a medal, especially if the top contenders continue to crumble under the pressure," USA Today noted.

Yulia Lipnitskaya, who was Russia's best gold medal contender heading into the competition, suffered from a costly fall in her routine. The 15-year-old Russian is currently in fifth place with 65.23 points, but she is still considered as one of the dark horses in the medal race.

The women's figure skating medal round will start at 10 a.m. EST. Figure skating fans can catch the action via live stream available through NBC Olympics Live Extra, while running results will be available at the Sochi 2014 Olympics official website.