Yeah, the fed seems to take GP results strongly into consideration. I'm a broken record at this point, but this is why Finlandia (if they can look presentable by then) wouldn't be a bad idea. If they produce disaster skates at the GP events or some elements/construction/whatever in their programs are flagged as a huge no-no by international panels, there's no coming back from that. Or they'd need to skate out of their skin at Russian Nationals to try to make up for it. Better take their chances at Finlandia to get some feedback. Of course only if they're prepared enough and the programs are ready.
They were working to integrate lifts into the programs now, if his shoulder is still fragile that might have aggravated it. It's one thing to repeat already learned old lifts like they've done so far, quite another to learn new ones. Anyway, I hope this is not the case and just my worst fears. Best case scenario, they just decided they need more time to polish programs.

