The modeling and pageant worlds are mourning Russian Miss Universe 2017 contestant Kseniya Alexandrova, who has died weeks after an elk crashed through her car’s windshield.
The Miss Russia 2017 first runner-up was 30.
Alexandrova was also a television host and held a financial degree from the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, according to Us Weekly. In 2022 she earned a psychology degree at Moscow Pedagogical State University and began practicing as a psychodrama therapist.
The stunning encounter occurred on July 5, as Alexandrova and her husband of four months drove through Tver Oblast, a region about 200 miles northwest of Moscow, Russian news outlet Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported. They were traveling home from the village of Rzhev in their Porsche Panamera — Alexandrova in the passenger seat and her husband at the wheel — when the massive animal leaped directly in front of them on the M-9 highway.
“From the moment it jumped out until the impact, a split second passed,” her husband, who was not named, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “I didn’t have time to do anything.”
He was unhurt, but his wife was critically injured.
“She was unconscious, her head was fractured, everything was covered in blood,” he told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “The frontal bones of the skull were broken — it was an open cranial-brain injury.”
Fellow motorists pulled over to help, and Alexandrova was taken to Moscow’s Sklifosovsky Institute for Emergency Medicine, where she remained in a coma. Despite her catastrophic injuries, she clung to life for more than a month before dying on Aug. 12, according to the Russian outlet.
Modus Vivendis, the modeling agency she’d been working with since age 19, confirmed “with great sadness” the death of “our colleague and friend” in an Instagram post.
“She knew how to inspire, support and give warmth to everyone who was around,” the agency said. “For us, she will forever remain a symbol of beauty, kindness and inner strength. We sincerely mourn and express our deepest condolences to her family, friends and everyone who had the good fortune to know Ksenia.”
The Miss Universe Organization extends its deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and everyone whose life was touched by the light of Miss Universe Russia 2017, Kseniya Alexandrova. Her grace, beauty, and spirit left an unforgettable mark on the Miss… pic.twitter.com/CTfkAvYFSa
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) August 14, 2025
Miss Universe pageant organizers also paid tribute.
“The Miss Universe Organization extends its deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and everyone whose life was touched by the light of Miss Universe Russia 2017, Kseniya Alexandrova,” the pageant said in a social media post captioning video of her speaking during the contest. “Her grace, beauty, and spirit left an unforgettable mark on the Miss Universe family and beyond. May her memory continue to inspire kindness, strength, and love in all those who were fortunate enough to know her.”
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