2011–12 edit

Lopes' debut at an international athletics competition was at the 2011 World Youth Championships, where she competed in the 200 metres.^[6] She finished last in her heat and ran a personal best time of 26.69 seconds.^[6] She did not progress to the semi-final round.^[7] She then competed at the 2012 World Junior Championships in the 100 metres.^[8] She was disqualified from her heat and therefore did not race again at the competition.^[6]

2012 Summer Olympics edit

Lopes' next major competition was the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.^[5] She qualified and competed in the 100 metres.^[5] For the preliminary round, she was drawn in heat four.^[9] In the heat of nine athletes,^[9] Lopes finished fourth in a time of 12.72 seconds.^[10] She was 1.12 seconds slower than the heat winner, Toea Wisil of Papua New Guinea.^[9] Overall, Lopes' time was the 17th fastest in the preliminary round.^[11] She did not progress to the heat round proper.^[11] By competing at the 2012 Games, she became the youngest Cape Verdean to compete at an Olympic Games at an age of 17 years and 337 days.^[12]

2013–16 edit

At the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie, Lopes competed in both the 100 metres and 200 metres.^[13] In the 100 metres she ran a time of 12.85 seconds and finished second last overall with Dianne Audrey Nioze of Seychelles the only athlete slower than her.^[13] Lopes did not progress to the final.^[13] In the 200 metres, Lopes came last in a time of 26.17 seconds and did not qualify for the final.^[13] At the 2014 Lusophony Games, Lopes finished fourth in the 100 metres; in a time of 12.49 seconds; and she won the silver medal in the 200 metres; in a time of 25.07 seconds.^[14][15] In her medal winning event, the 200 metres, she finished 0.07 seconds behind Indian Rengitha Chellah.^[15] The 2015 World Championships was Lopes' first senior World Championships.^[4] She competed in the 100 metres and finished last in her heat with a Cape Verdean national record time of 12.43 seconds.^[16] Overall, she was the 49th fastest out of 53 athletes and she did not progress to the semi-final round.^[17] At the 2015 African Games, Lopes finished 27th overall in the 100 metres in a time of 12.55 seconds and 29th overall in the 200 metres in a time of 25.53 seconds.^[18][19] Lopes' next major competition was the 2016 Ibero-American Athletics Championships.^[20] She competed in the 100 metres and finished last overall in a time of 12.67 seconds.^[20]

2016 Summer Olympics edit

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Lopes competed in the 100 metres.^[1] For the preliminary round, she was drawn in heat two, a heat containing seven other athletes alongside Lopes.^[21] In the race on 12 August 2016, she ran a time of 12.38 seconds.^[22] Lopes' time was a new Cape Verdean national record.^[3][22] After the race she told Ocean Press: "I have no words. I'm very happy".^[3] Lopes' time was the 9th fastest out of 24 athletes in the preliminary round;^[23] her time was 0.04 seconds slower than the slowest athlete to progress to the next round and, therefore, she was eliminated.^[23]