https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUR_h-rDYJI&feature=youtu.be
Above is the youtube link to yesterday's media summit press conference with some of the Team USA figure skaters, including Mirai. She spoke a few times about her triple axel. Some highlights:
**A journalist asks Mirai about how she was able to make her breakthrough with her jump, since there are youtube clips of her working on the jump going back to 2007. Mirai said that she has worked on the jump since she was 13, but that she was not able to work on it consistently until this point due to being injured at various points in her career, etc.
**She said that her triple axel is a consistent jump for her in practice, and opened up the possibility of doing two triple axels in her free skate if she is able to continue to make progress with the jump (replacing the triple triple, which she said is not her "favorite" jump). The thing that jumped out at me about this one was that she said before this summer that she graded the triple axel as a C, because it wasn't consistent yet. So it sounds like she really did have a breakthrough in terms of landing it more consistently in practice rather than just now and again (this in the midst of touring for two weeks in Japan, mind you

). She also was one of the skaters (along with Jason, and Chock and Bates), who performed "demos" for the media, with Mirai performing her sp. Though I don't know if there are any reports on how that went, or any footage.
Only time will tell if the hype will psych her out, but I love hearing Mirai sound so confident about the jump. Tom, please do your best to keep her injury free this season. I also think that Mirai consistently rotates her jumps in practice and that it's more of a nerves than a technique thing at this point, so sending all of the good vibes her way.