This year she set a women's record for most World Cup points scored in a season. In 2010 she became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in Downhill. She's held the World Cup season title in that event five consecutive years, and she's held the overall World Cup season title (which includes Downhill, Super G, and Combined) four out of five years. She is a few years from 30, and has already earned her place as one of the greats.

The World Cup season opens at Lake Louise in November. Vonn has won nine of the 11 events she's entered there. Looking for a new challenge, she wrote to the International Ski Federation and asked if she could race with men. Competitive male athletes with the need for speed look for the fastest race, even if that means they'll lose it. That is how they get faster. That's how they surpass their limits. Men race "up" until they can't.

The fastest women in the world are not supposed to do this. They are supposed to race not against the whole of humanity, but half of it.

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