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Besides her physical conditioning, Street is preparing her mind for her big day at Hakuba, where she learned the downhill course last winter by riding down the mountain on a coach's back. (She'll race in the super-G as well.) Picabo isn't letting public expectations rattle her. "I always put more pressure on myself than anyone could ever put on me. I create that pressure, so therefore I own that pressure," says Street, a believer in meditation and Zen-like attitudes. Hers is a far cry from the old days of the downhill, when some of the top guns, notably the men, would get so psyched up they'd walk into the woods to throw up before a race. Picabo, by contrast, can be seen near the starting gate with headphones on, and some dance music by Jamiroquai piping into her nervous system, her limbs swinging through a warmup. While she admits that a few things in life do scare her--including the dark, which she fends off with a night-light--going fast is rarely one of them. "There's no room for fear with speed," she says. "They don't coincide."
--With reporting by Aisha Labi/New York