The world's best ski jumpers take to the skies for gold in Sochi with women set to make history in their first Olympic appearance and Austria facing pressure in the men's events.

Training at the sparkling new Russki Gorki jumping center in the hills above Sochi starts on Thursday, one day before the Games opening ceremony.

The men's qualification starts on Saturday and the women's competition opens on Tuesday.

Sara Takanashi of Japan soars during the FIS ski jumping World Cup in Planica, Slovenia, on Jan 25. Jure Makovec / Agence France-Presse

Established stars and up-and-comers will try to write their names into the history book of the sport, which has been included in the program of all of the Olympics since the first Winter Games took place at Chamonix, France in 1924.

The International Olympic Committee added the women's event to the program for the 2014 Games after growing pressure from female ski jumpers, ending the sport's status as one of few men-only disciplines.

Japanese superstar Sara Takanashi, who is considered to be a red-hot favorite of the Games, confirmed her status by making it two wins from two World Cup events in the Austrian resort of Hinzenbach in the run-up to the Games.

With those victories the 17-year-old, who also won her fourth successive world junior title earlier this month, further strengthened her tag as favorite heading into Sochi.

Japan failed to win any gold medals at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, so the country's expectations are focused on talented high school student Takanashi.

"I want to lead the way; I want to start the competitions as soon as possible," Takanashi said after arriving in Sochi ahead of the competition.

"Of course I hope I will get a gold medal. But before I get one I will have to work hard and there are a lot of things I have to do for that."

She said it would be the third time she has competed on the Sochi hill after finishing second and third in two competitions in 2012.

Gold at 41?

Austria dominated men's ski jumping at the last Olympics but over the last few years new names have emerged and some veterans have re-established themselves.

Poland's world champion Kamil Stoch confirmed his intention to shine at Sochi as he jumped to the top of the World Cup rankings on the weekend with a win at Willingen's large hill in the final ski jump event before the Olympics.

Stoch's win, his fourth of the season, saw him take over as World Cup leader ahead of Slovenia's Peter Prevc and Noriaki Kasai of Japan.

"I'm 41, it's my seventh time at the Olympics and of course I'm going to try to get my eighth medal (at Olympics and world championships)," Kasai said.

Meanwhile, the Austrian ski jumping team, which is coming to Sochi to defend its Olympic title in the team competitions, announced star jumper Thomas Morgenstern was set to compete in Sochi after a horrific crash.

The Austrian ski jumping ruling body announced that three-time Olympic champion Morgenstern has returned to practices after recovering from a flying crash.

The federation said Morgenstern jumped last Friday "without complications". The statement also added: "The focus of the 27-year-old is still on Sochi."

Since its Winter Olympics debut in 1924, ski jumping has been dominated by three countries: Finland, Norway and Austria.

Those three countries have won 74 total medals, while the rest of the world has won just 49.

Norway leads the score with 29 medals, followed by Austria with 23 and Finland with 22. However, Finland holds the advantage in golds, winning 10 so far.