At the 2021 Russian Championships in December, Yablokov struggled with mistakes in both programs, finishing in 13th place. He reflected after the short program that he was "not very happy with [himself]," noting that he could usually perform the elements "well and consistently." Yablokov then competed at the 2021 Russian Junior Championships in February, finishing second in the short program, but made mistakes in the free skating to place sixth in the segment. He appeared to have won the bronze medal, but fell to fourth after judges realized that competitor Egor Rukhin's quadruple Salchow was miscalled as a triple; Rukhin's score with the adjusted base value placed him about 1.5 points above Yablokov.