Lucia Sisic, the reigning Miss Austria, has died at 22, the organization behind the Austrian pageant announced, prompting tributes from the country’s pageant community and renewing attention on a number of beauty queens from around the world who have died in the past decade.
Mission Austria, which organizes the Miss and Mister Austria competitions, announced Sisic’s death on Sept. 7, saying it had learned of her passing with “great shock and deep sorrow.” The organization remembered her as a “wonderful young woman” and extended its condolences to her family, friends and others close to her.
The cause of Sisic’s death has not been publicly disclosed.
Sisic won the Miss Austria title in 2024 and remained the titleholder at the time of her death. Austrian media reported that no subsequent Miss Austria competition had been held.
Her path to the national crown began in Vienna. Sisic won Miss Vienna in January 2024, defeating nine other contestants. She was then selected as Miss Austria later that year during an event held as part of Vienna Fashion Week.
At the time she won Miss Austria, Sisic was 20 and studying to become a teacher. She also spoke publicly about living with a congenital heart condition and became involved in raising awareness of heart disease.
Sisic had undergone multiple heart operations
Sisic had discussed her medical history publicly before her death.
An Austrian report published in August 2024 described her as having been born with a heart defect and undergoing heart surgery shortly after birth. She said she had undergone additional operations during childhood.
In a social-media post that month, Sisic thanked the pediatric cardiology specialists who had treated her and said their work had allowed her to overcome difficult periods and live a fulfilling life.
Later reports said she had undergone seven heart surgeries during her lifetime, including another operation in the winter before her death. However, those medical procedures should not be presented as the cause of her death: no official cause has been announced.
Her death came less than two years after she first entered the national pageant spotlight.
Pageant queens who died during the past 10 years
Sisic is not the first prominent pageant titleholder to die unexpectedly or after illness in recent years. The following are among the documented deaths since September 2016. The list is not intended as a complete worldwide registry because there is no single authoritative database tracking deaths of all national, regional and international pageant contestants.
Michelle Molatlou — Miss Black South Africa
Michelle Molatlou, the former Miss Black South Africa, died in December 2017 at 44.
Her family said she died after a battle with cervical cancer. Molatlou subsequently worked as a television presenter and actress in South Africa. She was the final Miss Black South Africa before the competition was discontinued.
Her career extended beyond pageantry, including work with South African television and charitable activities.
Chelsi Smith — Miss USA and Miss Universe
Chelsi Smith, who won both Miss USA and Miss Universe in 1995, died in September 2018 at 45 after being diagnosed with liver cancer.
Smith represented Texas in the Miss USA competition before winning the national title and then the Miss Universe crown in Namibia. The Miss Universe organization identifies her as the sixth Miss Universe to die.
The Associated Press reported at the time that Smith had been diagnosed with liver cancer in spring 2017.
Smith later worked as an actress, singer and television host. In 2025, the Miss USA organization renamed its Miss Congeniality award in her honor as the Chelsi Smith Congeniality Award, reflecting her continuing place in the pageant’s history.
Cheslie Kryst — Miss USA
Cheslie Kryst, who won Miss USA in 2019, died in New York in January 2022 at 30.
Police said Kryst died by suicide after jumping from a Manhattan apartment building. Her family confirmed her death.
Kryst was more than a pageant winner. She was an attorney and worked as a correspondent for the television entertainment program Extra. Her death prompted renewed discussion about mental health, particularly the gap between a person’s public image and private struggles.
A 2024 Washington Post examination of her life and death documented her mother’s efforts to preserve Kryst’s legacy and raise awareness of mental-health issues.
Gleycy Correia — Miss United Continents Brazil
Gleycy Correia, a Brazilian beauty queen who won Miss United Continents Brazil in 2018, died in June 2022 at 27.
Correia suffered severe complications after undergoing a tonsil-removal operation. According to reports, she experienced heavy bleeding and cardiac arrest several days after the procedure and subsequently remained in a coma for about two months. She died on June 20, 2022.
Correia, from Macaé in southeastern Brazil, later worked as a permanent-makeup specialist and maintained a significant social-media following.
Reports at the time said her family was awaiting an autopsy and investigating what had happened during the medical treatment.
Sherika de Armas — Miss World Uruguay
Sherika de Armas, who represented Uruguay at Miss World 2015, died in October 2023 at 26 after a battle with cervical cancer.
De Armas had won the Miss Mundo Uruguay title in 2015 and subsequently represented the country at the Miss World competition in China. She did not place in the international competition.
Reports said she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2021 and underwent treatment before her death two years later.
Her death was particularly notable within Uruguay’s pageant community because she had also worked in the beauty industry and supported a foundation focused on childhood cancer.
Lucia Sisic’s death comes at a different point in her pageant career
Unlike several of the women whose deaths occurred years after their major pageant victories, Sisic died while she was still the sitting Miss Austria.
She had won Miss Vienna in January 2024 before taking the national Miss Austria crown later that year. Contemporary Austrian reports described her as a 20-year-old student who had already begun using her public profile to speak about heart disease.
The circumstances surrounding her death remain limited to what has been publicly confirmed.
Mission Austria has announced her death but has not disclosed a cause of death. Her previous heart condition and multiple surgeries are documented facts, but there is currently no public statement establishing that her medical history directly caused her death.
That distinction is important as tributes continue to emerge.
Sisic’s death leaves Austria’s pageant community mourning a titleholder who had held the country’s crown for roughly two years and had built her public identity around both pageantry and her experience living with a serious heart condition.
As of Sept. 9, 2026, no official cause of death has been announced.
Other notable pageant deaths since 2016 at a glance
Year
Pageant titleholder
Age
Competition/title
Reported cause
2017
Michelle Molatlou
44
Miss Black
South Africa
Cervical cancer
2018
Chelsi Smith
45
Miss USA /
Miss Universe
Liver cancer
2022
Cheslie Kryst
30
Miss USA
Suicide
2022
Gleycy Correia
27
Miss United
Continents Brazil
Complications
following tonsil
surgery
2023
Sherika de Armas
26
Miss World Uruguay
Cervical cancer
2026
Lucia Sisic
22
Miss Austria
Not disclosed
The cases differ sharply in age, circumstances and cause of death. What connects them is that each woman had become publicly associated with a pageant title that extended beyond a single night of competition — making their deaths significant events for the pageant communities and countries they represented.