Mirjam Jaeger gave an insightful interview to journalist, Brigid Mander and ESPN about competing and dealing with injury: See interview below:

Because of searing back pain, Mirjam Jaeger had decided not to compete in the first stop of theWinter Dew Tour in December in Breckenridge, Colo. She was sure she couldn’t even make it through the elimination rounds. But then, she changed her mind: Back pain or not, Jaeger dropped into the superpipe anyway, took second and changed the course of her season.

Jaeger has scored her fifth invitation to Winter X, which is the focus of her training now. With any luck, her back won’t threaten any more events in her season. An MRI showed that she had a damaged disc in her spine, but after injections to ease the inflammation and pain, Jaeger isn’t wasting any more time getting ready for Aspen.

“The plan was to have some new tricks for Winter X Games. I know what I want to do,” she says. “I may still have some time to practice what I wanted before X Games, but it is also important to get my back better. But I think I might still have time to practice some things.”

Jaeger started her career off as a pro snowboarder in Europe, but then she switched to skiing as soon as freestyle skiing and new kinds of skis hit the market. “I started to compete right away — I didn’t even know the names of the grabs,” she says.

The sport has come a long way since then, she says. “Just what I’ve seen recently, how the sport progresses, there are these young girls out there who aren’t afraid of anything. The level over the next few years will be amazing.”

Born and raised in Switzerland, Jaeger now trains in Summit County, Colo., and she recently moved to San Diego, Calif., where her boyfriend, pro skateboarder and X Games competitor Adam Taylor, lives. “I have to fly everywhere for skiing anyway, so it is nice to be home at the beach,” says Jaeger.

As far as this season goes, Jaeger hopes to ski well at Winter X, make it back to Euro X, and keep busy with theadditional Dew Tour stops. “I went through that [Dew Tour] stop in so much pain, but it was worth it. Now I’m super stoked and it was a good start to the season,” she says. “[X Games] is always a lot of pressure, but I am just going to try to go and have fun at Winter X, like I usually do … and I usually do OK, too.”

For the original article check out ESPN.