Krystyna Pyszková from Czech Republic crowned Miss World in India

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Miss World 2024: Krystyna Pyszková from Czech Republic. Image: Instagram/@krystyna_pyszko

The Miss World pageant has finally crowned its 71st queen, and she is Krystyna Pyszková from Czech Republic who emerged victorious in the competition held two years since the previous edition of the international tilt.

Pyszková bested 111 other aspirants from different countries and territories at the final show held at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai, India, on March 9, staged after several postponements and changes in venue.

The new queen inherited the “blue crown” from Karolina Bielawska, the Polish beauty who won in the 70th Miss World pageant that concluded in Puerto Rico in March 2022.

Reigning Miss World Karolina Bielawska. Image from her Instagram

The edition commenced in the Caribbean territory in November 2021, but was interrupted by a COVID-19 outbreak among contestants, staff members, and officials, that prompted the directive to send everybody back home before the scheduled final competition in the middle of December 2021.

For the 71st edition, the Miss World pageant only proclaimed one runner-up, Yasmina Zaytoun from Lebanon. Aché Abrahams from Trinidad And Tobago, and Lesego Chombo from Botswana, meanwhile, finished in the Top 4.

The Philippines’ Gwendolyne Fourniol, a French-Filipino model and student from Himamaylan, Negros Occidental, ended her journey after she fell short of entering the Top 40 finalists.

The Miss World Organization (MWO) was supposed to hold the pageant’s 71st edition towards the end of 2022, just a few months from the conclusion of its 70th installment. But it did not push through.

The organization announced in January 2023 that the competition will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in May, but that also did not happen. In June, an announcement was made, saying the contest will instead be held in India around September or October.

In September, MWO announced that the 71st Miss World Festival will be held at Yashobhoomi, Dwarka, in Delhi, and the final competition was scheduled on Dec. 16. But that also did not push through because of the elections in India.

Just this January, MWO announced that the contest will be held in the first quarter of the year, and participants are expected to arrive in February, with the coronation slated for March. Fourniol left for the South Asian country last month to embark on her long-drawn-out quest for the Miss World title.

The Philippines had previously won the Miss World crown in 2013, with Megan Young posting the country’s first victory at the 63rd edition held in Indonesia.