50 beautiful Russian women have been preparing for the Miss Russia competition for months. The day they had been anticipating was March 6th and Irina Antonenko won the grand prize.

In addition to her $100,000 winnings, 18 year old Irina from Ekaterinburg also gets to represent Russia in the Miss World pageant later this year in Vietnam. Besides her beauty, Irina also has the brains. Like many young Russian women, Irina is a university student focusing on finance and plans to continue on with post-graduate studies as well.  

The dazzling crown she will proudly wear during her reign this year is quite a prize in itself, since it's the most expensive beauty pageant crown ever created. Over 2,000 diamonds weighing 62 karats adorn the white gold tiara, including 14 unique pearls.