British Virgin Islands wins Sports´ Challenge event and advances to MW´s Top 30!

For the British Virgin Islands it was a historical day, as Rikkiya Brathwaite, 22, became the first woman from her country to advance to the 2nd round of any Grand Slam pageant. It happened after Rikkiya won the Sports´ Challenge in Miss World 2019, securing her a spot among the Top 30 quarter-finalists.

“I’m honestly very overwhelmed. I’m not an athlete by any means! I gave up track and field at the age of seven for ballet shoes and a stage. But I come from a very athletic family so it must still be somewhere in my DNA still. I am just truly grateful to come from a country with a competitive heart when it comes to track and sports”, she told the press.

Miss Nigeria placed 2nd and Miss Trinidad & Tobago followed, in 3rd place.

The British Virgin Islands first participated in a Grand Slam competition in 1977, when Andria Dolores Norman entered the Miss Universe competition, in the Dominican Republic. Its Miss World debut came 9 years later, in 1986, with Anthonia Brenda Lewis competing in Macau and London.