She‘s not just one of the 3A, she is Aliona Kostornaya
I think nobody of the 3A is just one of the 3.
We are talking of absolute excellence here.
But being one of the 3A and fighting that inside war is what makes them even more unique.
If Aliona (or Anna/Sasha) wuold enter senior alone we would have seen total dominance with terrific scores, raising the bar for everyone else by a step (a big one but just a step)
Alina did it before the 3A, Zenya did it before Alina.
With the 3A, the bar is raised by a group of skaters so high that until now the only girl to beat a 3A is another 3A.
To win against the other 3A you need to mount another step!
That why Aliona's and Anna's titles are above outstanding.
Now it's Sasha who needs to mount that second step: she has it in her, she just have to find it.
With so mighty opposition they will win less and with much more effort, but those medals are platinum non just gold.
At the start of the season we were talking about 4A, but Alina could not keep up to the task because of a difficult season.
Could she overcome her problems, raise her level and become the 4th Ace once againg?
I don't know, but if she could it would be an achievement greater than her Olympic title.
Much less popular and recognized of course, but that would prove so much more (to me at least).
Keeping up with the new generation (a revolutionary generation in this case) after dominating your peak time is mark of true greatness.
(just please don't read this as "she won olympic because of lesser opposition" because she had to fight it till the last spin whit Zenya and that was great opposition both technically and mentally)