At Skate America, Kwan defeated Lipinski for the first time in three competitions and won the gold medal. Lipinski came in second place after Kwan in both her short program and free skate and took second place over all. Despite performing more difficult jumps than Kwan during her short program, Lipinski received "consistently lower" required element scores. During her free skate, in "an otherwise strong and technically difficult performance", she fell while performing a triple-lutz combination jump. According to Kestnbaum, Callaghan "expressed bewilderment in why the judges had so marked down the reigning world champion, who by virtue of that position might otherwise have been expected to receive the benefit of any doubt". Lipinski came in second place at Trophée Lalique, behind French skater Laetitia Hubert, who had not won a major competition since the 1992 World Junior Championships, and who had come in eleventh place at her previous competition.