To represent Puerto Rico at the 72nd edition of Miss Universe is Karla Guilfú Acevedo. The 28 year-old beauty beat 29 other contestants in a pageant held at Centro de Bellas Artes de Santurce in the capital city of San Juan. Xarimar Acevedo Pabón finished as first runner-up while Kiara Rivera Escudero was the second runner-up. Fiorella Medina Perez and Isarel Marielis Román Almeda were the 3rd and 4th runners-up respectively.
Karla Guilfú Acevedo has a degree in psychology and she is not a stranger in the world of international beauty pageants. She was the first runner-up during the Miss Supranational 2021 pageant and was awarded as Miss Elegance during the pre-finals competition.
Puerto Rico is pretty strong at Miss Universe. It boasts 5 titleholders: Marisol Malaret (1970), Deborah Carthy-Deu (1985), Dayanara Torres (1993), Denise Quiñones August (2001) and Zuleyka Rivera (2006). Puerto Rico is currently ranked 14th at the Big5 Ranking.
