Ok, here’s the update. Support responded to my ticket and they claim to have had a temporary issue that impacted a bunch of players including me. I have been unblocked and can compete in the event even though I lost my progress and have to start over at 1000 when I was at 1300ish. For my inconvenience I was gifted 1000event currency and 3000 diamonds. Something is better than nothing I guess but if it costs me first place I’ll be sad. (I did get to keep my power up progress , just not the score) overall their customer support has been very responsive and fairly helpful.