Pauline Amelinckx reflects on ‘stronger spirit’ during Miss Universe Philippines journey

Although she fell short in bagging the Miss Universe Philippines crown, Pauline Amelinckx is not one to lose focus even as she looked back on her journey that became a testament to her “stronger spirit.”

Amelinckx — who was crowned Miss Supranational Philippines 2023 on the same night as the MUPh coronation on May 13 — took to Instagram to take stock of her journey, which she said was “so fulfilling from start to end,” as she recalled her preliminary and coronation performances through a series of Instagram posts.

“Just because other people shine, doesn’t mean you shine any less. What a ride… this journey has been so fulfilling from start to end. and [it’s] not even the end yet,” she said as she shared a closer look into her intricate Furne Amato preliminary gown.

The beauty queen admitted that she’s “still taking everything in,” as she invited her followers to look back at the gown that she wore during the preliminaries. “[Let’s] take a look at this prelim gown by @furneamato [black heart emoji] it looks beautiful in these pictures but during the prelim show, all the lights made this gown sparkle so beautifully.”

Amelinckx then revealed that her evening gown performance at the coronation night was a culmination of “overcoming so many personal doubts.” At that time, she was wearing a flowy white dress by Mikee Andrei which is similar to the one worn by Miss Universe 2002 Oxana Fedorova.

“The moment,” she began. “This evening gown performance was the result of overcoming so many personal doubts. And honestly, I enjoyed swaying the stage in this beautiful gown. It proved that simplicity can stand out. I felt so feminine, it was powerful,” she said.

The beauty queen then thanked her team, pageant coaches, and followers for her support, saying that her mother likened her performance to someone who was “flying.”

Also on Instagram, Amelinckx also confessed that the swimsuit round was one of her “feared segments” since she wasn’t confident in her “body and walk.”

“This used to be one of my more feared segments during all my previous pageant journeys. I guess mainly [because I] wasn’t fully confident in both my body and walk,” she began, as she shared throwback photos of her swimsuit preliminary performance.

“But this year, it was different. I loved the preliminary swimsuit round. I enjoyed it so much and I guess it’s [because] courage and a stronger spirit led me to love myself and my body more,” she said.

The Bohol-born Belgian-Filipina then noted that it took many preparations to perfect her pageant pasarela and poses, saying it was not a one-woman journey.

“It also took many late night [training sessions] to practice all the poses and transitions and turn it into muscle memory. I have seen myself (my walk, my body, my mindset) improve so much over the years, and that was not a one-woman-journey,” she said.

“It was also [through] the love and dedication of so many people around me. And to them, I just wanna say, thank you for making me see in myself what you have seen all along,” she further said.

Amelinckx tried for the MUPh crown for the third time on Saturday. She was named Miss Universe Philippines – Charity 2022, and Miss Universe Philippines 2020 – 3rd Runner-Up in her previous attempts.

The beauty queen will vie for the Philippines’ second Miss Supranational crown in Poland in July, 10 years after Mutya Datul clinched the title for the Philippines in 2013. EDV

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