In 1994, Lipinski earned a silver medal in the novice women's division at the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. When she was 12, she became the youngest athlete to win a gold medal at the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival and took first place in her first international competition, the Blue Swords in Chemnitz, Germany. According to "Cosmopolitan Magazine", the media began to notice Lipinski after Blue Swords in November 1994. As a junior skater, she came in fourth place at the 1995 World Junior Figure Skating Championships and with six triples in her long program, second place at the 1995 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. In late 1995, she placed fifth at the 1996 World Junior Figure Skating Championships; according to the "Washington Post", the competition marked "the end of the relationship between the Lipinskis and DiGregorio".