CAN TRIALS KILL YOUR HARCORE RUN EVEN IF YOU DON'T DIE?

I was doing my trials when the game crashed, I did not die but the trial was not completed successfully, then the game closed. When I opened it back up the character was back at Standard.
If I didn't die why did my character get demoted to Standard?

Trials are already hard in themselves (especially for some classes, even after the buffs) and already have a punishment for failing them in where you loose everything you invested to do the trial. Why does it have to take your whole run too?

I find that being that a important part of the game the punishment is disproportionated, especially in the cases where the player did not die