With rivals Sinitsina/Katsalapov withdrawing from the 2021 Russian Championships due to contracting COVID-19 as well, Stepanova/Bukin entered the event as the heavy favourites to finally take the title. They won the rhythm dance by 3.26 points over Zahorski/Guerreiro. They won the free dance as well by a 5.96 point margin, taking the gold medal for the first time at the Russian Championships. Stepanova said afterward "there was not much time for the preparation and we were nervous. We didn't want to skate worse than we did last year." While the European Championships were already cancelled due to the pandemic, they were assigned to the Russian team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.