Mireia Lalaguna Royo from spain was crowned Miss World 2015 competition in the Chinese island of Sanya, the event filled with much controversy over China's refusal to allow Canada's represantative to attend.
Sofia Nikitchuk of Russia was the runner-up and Indonesia's Maria Harfanti took third place in the Saturday night final following a lengthy competition featuring 114 beauties.
Each had won the right to represent their country in a series of local and regional competitions.
This win is the first-ever win for a contestant from spain.
"I think this is a good decision, because Miss World is not looking for our body, they are looking for a soul," said Lalaguna, a 23-year-old model from Barcelona with a degree in pharmacology who plans to pursue a master's degree in nutrition. She placed first in the competition's top model contest and appeared to impress the judges with her public speaking.
"I think it's important that they don't want to see only our bodies, they are looking for moral things," she said.View gallery
Not present was Miss Canada, Chinese-born Anastasia Lin, who had been prevented from boarding her connecting flight to Sanya from Hong Kong last month after China refused her a visa.
Lin is an outspoken critic of Chinese religious policy and a follower of the Falun Gong meditation practice, which was outlawed by China in 1999.
She said that after she won the Canadian title, Chinese security agents visited her father, who still lives in China, in an apparent attempt to intimidate her into silence.
Neither Beijing nor the London-based Miss World Organization has commented on the controversy.
It was the second consecutive year that outside events intruded on the competition. Last year's contest in London was marred by the murder the month before of Miss Honduras and her sister in that country.
The first Miss World contest was held 64 years ago in Britain.
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