Miss Namibia Steffi Van Wyk was the winner of the Miss World sports challenge event, after leading in the shuttle runs, long jump, and 100m sprint categories.
There are five challenge events that take place in the run-up to the final: beauty with a purpose, multimedia, sports, talent and top model. These challenge events afford the contestants a chance to win important points. The 24-year-old anmibian beauty, who is the 100m hurdle national record holder in Namibia, beat all the other contestants in the individual shuttle run, long jump, and 100m sprint. Afterwards, Steffi said: “I’m so proud to have won this, not just for me, but for my country. I can’t thank all the other contestants enough for the support they have given to me. This award is for all of us, because the biggest accomplishment of today was how well we worked as a team!”
According to the Miss World Official website, Van Wyk describes herself as a “sports fanatic.” On her profile page it says: “Welcome to the life of Steffi, the energetic sports fanatic who loves life with the ultimate purpose of making people believe in themselves and the significance of the silver lining.”
Due to the recognition, Van Wyk has technically become the leading contestant on the “Miss World” 2015 leaderboard, which means she has a pretty good chance of landing a spot in the semis. But based on history, the odds of her winning the crown are not certainly favourable.
As per beauty pageant expert, Missiology, no winner of the sports and fitness challenge has ever won the crown. However, she says nothing is certain until the end of the coronation night, noting that “Miss World” 2014 winner Rolene Strauss of South Africa had also won as the second runner-up in the same challenge.
The 65th annual Miss World pageant final will take place on December 19 at the Beauty Crown Grand Theatre in Sanya, China. The country will be hosting the annual event for the sixth time this year. At the coronation night, Rolene Strauss of South Africa will pass on the crown to her successor.