'I'M JUST HONOURED': Miss World Canada 2019 shines

Jack Boland

July 29, 2019

Newly crowned Miss World Canada Naomi Colford has already started turning heads and catching eyes.

Colford, 19, a second-year university nursing student from Sydney, N.S., attained the title Saturday evening — besting 55 other contestants from coast-to-coast at the Toronto Centre for the Arts Lyric theatre.

“I can’t even put into words how good it feels and I’m just honoured and proud that I get to represent my country,” said Colford.

“I was surrounded by so many inspiring and beautiful other girls that I just tried to say, ‘be yourself. Show the judges yourself and at the end of the day, just let the chips fall where they land and that’s all you can do.”

Her biggest supporter, dad Ronnie, was incredibly proud of his daughter — who he has watched grow up and mature.

“I knew it. I was sitting there (last night) and when they called out her name I jumped out of my chair,” he said.

“I yelled out ‘yes’ and pounded my fist in the air three times.”

As the weight of the title — as well as the sapphire and rhinestone-encrusted tiara — settled on her, the 5-foot-9 brunette beamed, wearing a white knee-length sheath dress along with her Miss World Canada winner’s sash.

Posing with her family by her side — Ronnie, stepmom Lisa and younger sister Katelin — she caught the eye of some of the guests at Markham’s Edward Hotel, who snapped photos on their smartphones before congratulating her on the accomplishment.

One of them was Toronto condo developer Wing On Li, who in a previous career with TVB broadcast in Hong Kong was a key part of the Miss Hong Kong pageant in 1990 — 10 years before Colford was even born.

“She is just gorgeous, she would have beat my Miss Hong Kong,” he remarked. “I hope she outperforms, outshines all the beauties in the upcoming (Worlds) pageant in London.”

Hong Kong’s 1990 winner Anita Yuen, who was also 19 at the time, went on to place 10th at the 1991 Miss Universe contest and became a well-known and award-winning Asian movie and TV actress.

In her second-year studying nursing, Colford has her eyes set on a career as a pediatric nurse.

Just like 2018 MWC winner Hanna Begovic — a fourth-year dance major at York University — Colford has been dancing since the age of two.

She joked in the courtyard of the hotel, as she tried some fancy footwork and kicks, that if nursing doesn’t pan out maybe she could join the Rockettes.

Colford will now embark on her year-long journey as the first Maritimer to win the title, representing both her province and Canada at the Miss Worlds in London in December.

https://torontosun.com/news/national/miss-world-canada-2019-shines