Miss World 2021: Poland crowned, Kenya’s Sharon Obara makes final 20

Miss World 2021 Karolina Bielawska from Poland (C) flanked by 1st Runner Up Shree Saini (L) from United States and 2nd Runner Up Olivia Yace (R) from Côte d’Ivoire. [MissWorld/Instagram]

Miss Poland, Karolina Bielawska is the newly crowned Miss World.

The just-concluded 70th global Miss World 2021 beauty pageant competition was held in a colourful ceremony at The Coca Cola Music Hall in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

Miss USA Shree Saini and Ivory Coast’s Olivia Yace took second and third place respectively.

The other African representative who made a strong showing was Somalia's Khadija Omar who was among the final 12.

Kenyan representative Sharon Obara was among the finalists for the Beauty With a Purpose category but did not make it to the final twelve for the crown. She was, however, in the final 20 out of 40 beauty queens from around the world.

Sharon has used her experience as a psychology graduate to start her Beauty with a Purpose project 'Destigmatizing Mental Healthcare'.

For over two years, Sharon has been working with children with neurological and cognitive disorders. Since becoming Miss World Kenya 2021, Sharon has been granted support from the Kenyan government to help normalize conversations around Mental Wellness.

This year’s show also saw the now former Miss World Tony Ann Singh, who hails from Jamaica, hand over the blue beaded crown to the 23-year-old beauty. 

Tony Ann was crowned in London in 2019 and is the longest-serving Miss World due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the last edition of the event in 2019, held in London, Kenyan representative Wavinya Maria emerged sixth overall in one of the country's best showings.

The competition took place this year after it was cancelled last year following the Covid-19 outbreak in Puerto Rico. The finals were originally to take place on December 17 last year. 

In a statement, Julia Morley, the Chairperson and CEO of The Miss World Organisation expressed her joy for having the pageant back on its feet again.

“We are delighted to be heading back to Puerto Rico with 40 of the representatives who have been selected from the original 97 contestants who competed for a place in the finals in December last year. This is our 70th anniversary, which marks a historic milestone for us. All of us at Miss World are dedicated to present Puerto Rico the island of enchantment and gateway to Latin America to a huge global audience,” said Julia.