As Team USA descends upon Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics, much attention is being placed on the brand new team event and how Ashley Wagner will cope with the pressure.

Recently, USA Today broke the news that Ashley Wagner will be skating the short program during the team event, while Gracie Gold will skate the long program.

The team event at the 2014 Sochi Olympics begins Thursday night with the men's short program and pairs' short program. Ashley Wagner will then skate on Saturday, and Gracie Gold Sunday.

The 10-country competition will pit Team USA against the likes of Canada and Russia, who are also frontrunners for Olympic medals.

After having disappointing skates at the US Figure Skating Championships, the question on everyone's mind is whether Ashley Wagner will be able to handle the pressure of leading the team event.

"The United States is a very strong team. Absolutely hands down, I think the US is one of the front-runners for a medal in the team event," said Wagner.

"It's an opportunity to receive another Olympic medal. Being team leader, I realized there was a great sense of camaraderie with our team, which made it so much fun."

This is immediately following the controversy surrounding Ashley Wagner, who was named to the Olympic team despite finishing behind Mirai Nagasu.

When asked about the controversy by Matt Lauer, Ashley Wagner replied that Nagasu has been the one to give her the most support.

"Mirai has been absolutely incredible. She and I have been friends for quite some time now and we’ve been in touch after nationals, and she said ‘you deserve to be on this team… I’m cheering you on… good luck’ so to have her support has meant everything for me,” Wagner told Lauer on Today.