After recovering from pneumonia, Shcherbakova had somewhat limited ability to train in advance of the 2021 Russian Championships. She won the short program with a score of 80.31, ahead of fellow Sambo-70 skater Kamila Valieva. In the free skate she landed both a quad Lutz and a quad flip, and won that segment with a 183.79 score, with Valieva the silver medalist and Trusova taking the bronze medal. Shcherbakova became the first woman to win three consecutive Russian titles since Irina Slutskaya from 1999 to 2001. She was assigned to the Russian team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.