Miss World Kenya 2019 Maria Wavinya was so close to bringing the crown home. She was a top finalist at the recently concluded Miss World pageant.
The 69th edition of the prestigious Miss World competition was held in London on Saturday 14th of December 2019 and our very own beauty queen was only a few placements shy of winning the blue crown.
Maria only aged 18, is the youngest ever crowned Miss World Kenya and a mass communication student at top Kenyan university. She was placed 6th in the competition that had representatives from 111 countries.
She advanced to the top 40 via judges’ choice and later to the top 12 being one of the two African countries in the selection but lost out Nigeria’s Nyekachi Douglas who was placed in the top 5 ultimately becoming Miss World Africa.
Jamaica’s Toni-Ann Singh won the 2019 edition of the pageant. It’s the first time in history that black women hold the titles for Miss France 2020, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss America, Miss Universe and Miss World.
The 23-year-old student was born in St Thomas, Jamaica, and plans to study medicine and become a doctor.
The runners up included Ophély Mézino from France and Suman Rao from India.
Kenya has come close to winning the world crown a few times with beauty queens Magline Jeruto and Evelyn Njambi having been placed in the top five.