HIGHLIGHTS

Regularly one of the first athletes out of the water, Vittoria Lopes has built a reputation of racing from the front.

The Brazilian’s swim pedigree should perhaps come as no surprise as her mother, Helda Lopes, raced in the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City while her cousin, Luiz Altamir Melo, swam for Brazil at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Vittoria had the perfect person to encourage her into the water at a young age and took up swimming at four-years-old. However, she drifted away from the pool when she went to college and largely stayed away from sport until a friend suggested they do a triathlon together. That was in 2014 and Vittoria has not looked back since.