Now we can say it's official, received this from the ambassador team:
For your information, as part of our regular process, the 2021 qualifying year will be applied to your account in one of two ways: 1) If you maintain the same Elite level for 2021 that you started the year with, your 2021 year of Elite status will be applied to your account in January 2022 or 2) If you achieve a higher Elite level during 2021 than you started the year with, your 2021 year for the new, higher level will be applied at the time of achievement.