More like he's trying but if you look at the scores, nothing is going to change regardless. I feel for him and for Sasha cause let's be clear here:
Sasha IS trying the 3A, Kamila Valieva is NOT!
Sasha has a better lutz than Kamila and yet undervalued with the russian panel.
At the end of the day it is very disrespectful for the athlete who IS working on these components, while also including ALL the hardest elements, but a random skater from that other group will always be in front even with a 2a, or a flutz with full blade on the "supposed toe pick".
Eteri fans are pretending everything is a disaster with Plushenko, and yet Sasha almost landed the 3A, an element she never landed in competition last season.
As a fan of Figure Skating it makes the sport more and more uninteresting: rules are not applied, scores are so arbitrary you can go for 10-20 points higher bv and still lose if the judges decide you have to. That very much goes against the principles of a sport.