Her first major success came at the 1998 IAAF World Junior Championships in Annecy, France, where she won the 200 m gold medal. She made her first senior global appearance at age 20 at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics and, after running a personal best of 22.31 seconds in the qualifiers, she finished fifth in the 200 m semi-finals. She ran with the women's 4×100 metres relay team and scored a silver medal alongside Sylviane Félix, Frédérique Bangué, and Odiah Sidibé. Hurtis made her Olympic debut the following year at the 2000 Summer Olympics and again she reached the semi-finals, this time finishing in seventh place. Hurtis's first global final came at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships, where she finished in fifth. She also helped the French relay team to the World silver medal at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics later that year.