I personally never thought Zagitova was winning the 2018 Olympics anytime before maybe Europeans that year. Definitely not around the time of 2017 Junior Worlds. Her TES was already competitive with Medvedeva but her PCS were miles behind and I did not see that changing in just a year. And I still believe Zagitova is super lucky since if Medvedeva is not injured and misses the Grand Prix final (where Zagitova in no way skated well enough to win over a halfway decent Medvedeva), Zagitova's PCS and even GOE never climb to the same level they did. Not starting a debate who should have won the Olympics which is another topic altogether, but politically it never would have happened. Zagitova got so lucky and Medvedeva was so unlucky to be injured and miss the Grand Prix final and a period of time, and Zagitova's Olympic win never happens otherwise. Medvedeva probably even wins Europeans even falling on the double axel in the short now for that matter.
I agree it is all about numbers and momentum though.