I don't think saying she probably deserves a Grand Prix event over Maria is more than a probably and wow Buyanovas girl struggle last year I would say Anastasia became her number one girl and had quality skating last season besides being very beautiful skating. Maria quite frankly showed no interest in figure skating and that should be held against her.
Nastya wasn't as good as she could have been last but far from a disaster. Clearly underscore that Russian Nationals and Russian Cup final. My problem with the Russian Federation is that they set all of her supporters up by making her part of the national team as a reserve when they had no intention of giving her 1 Grand Prix. I thought she would get two because she's the most beautiful skater of all the Russian girls and would be a nice complement to all the technical wizards and jumping jacks they have . This is like a cat chasing its tail we go round and round discussing this issue of Anastasia and the Russian Federation. But it never ends and the diamond in the rough Nastya keeps getting stifled. I don't know if there's a way forward for her because more girls will become seniors next season and 3A will be in their second season and probably ready to dominate.
People have mentioned from time to time that Anastasie should change countries. But that's very hard to do . If she tried something like that now the Russian Federation would probably block her from all competitions in the 2019-2020 season. If she ever considers changing countries and I don't think she is, it should be done after the next season. But it won't happen because her little sister is a figure skater moving up in the system and the parents probably don't want to uproot either girl.
Good luck to Nastya next season. I hope her second year at cska and with this coach will be very good to her.
I don't understand to many decisions RusFed makes, but being in reserve of the national team means funding, at least, so I would not say that they intend to do her some harm. Yes, Nastya is definitely beautiful and skates well, but there are plenty of girls in Russia who can do the same. Some people say "in any other country she would be a star", yes, but again, there are plenty of girls like that in Russia. And no matter what I think about the Rusfed, I wouldn't want to be in their skin when they have to make a decision who to choose. Last year Sima had no GP assignment and people made complains. This year she has one and people are complaining about Nastya. As they say, there is no pleasing some people.
As I've mentioned, Sima is 19, Nastya is 16. The fact that she has no GP assignment in her 16 doesn't mean her career is at the end.