(PHOTOS) Miss Austria Lucia Sisic Dies At 22 After Lifelong Battle With Congenital Heart Condition In Vienna

VIENNA, Austria — Lucia Sisic, the reigning Miss Austria who openly shared her lifelong journey with a congenital heart condition, has died at age 22, according to Mission Austria, the organization that oversees the country's Miss and Mister Austria pageants.

Mission Austria confirmed Sisic's death in a translated statement posted to Facebook on Sept. 7, expressing profound shock at the loss.

"It is with great shock and deep sorrow that we have learned of the passing of our Miss Austria 2024, Lucia Sisic," the organization wrote. "We will remember Lucia as a wonderful young woman. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to her family, friends, and all those close to her during this difficult time."

The statement, signed by Mission Austria CEO Kerstin Rigger and her husband, Jörg, closed with a direct farewell to the late titleholder.

"Dear Lucia, you will always remain a part of our Miss Austria family. Rest in peace," the organization wrote.

Sisic was crowned Miss Vienna in January 2024 before going on to win the national Miss Austria title later that year at Vienna Fashion Week. Because no subsequent Miss Austria pageant was held in either 2025 or 2026, Sisic remained the reigning titleholder at the time of her death, according to Austrian media reports. As a result of her death, Austria will not send a representative to this year's Miss Universe competition.

Sisic was born with a congenital heart valve defect and underwent seven surgical procedures throughout her life to manage the condition, according to multiple Austrian outlets including Die Presse, Oe24 and Kronen Zeitung. Her most recent operation took place during the winter, Die Presse reported. One particularly serious procedure in 2017 required Sisic to be resuscitated, and she later experienced nerve damage affecting her left leg and foot, forcing her to relearn how to walk. An official cause of death has not been publicly disclosed by Mission Austria or Sisic's family.

Rather than keeping her medical history private, Sisic chose to speak openly about her condition throughout her time as a public figure, using her platform to encourage others facing similar health challenges. In a 2024 interview with Austrian outlet Heute, she reflected on how her childhood differed from that of her peers because of her ongoing health struggles.

"My childhood was simply different, but it also made me strong," Sisic said.

Sisic was also careful to clarify that sharing her health journey publicly was never intended to elicit sympathy from others.

"I don't want pity, I want to encourage others!" Sisic said.

In an August 2024 Instagram post, translated from German, Sisic thanked the medical team that had cared for her throughout her life, specifically crediting pediatric cardiology specialists at Vienna General Hospital.

"Thanks to the specialists and the dedicated doctors, who have always saved my life with great efforts, I have overcome many difficult moments and have been able to live a fulfilling life," Sisic wrote.

Tributes to Sisic have continued emerging from across Austria's pageant community and beyond in the days following her death. Christopher Dengg, who was crowned Mister Austria in 2024 alongside Sisic's own national title win, told a local Austrian newspaper he was "deeply shocked" by her death, describing the close bond the two shared during their shared time holding their respective titles.

"She was like a sister to me, especially during the time we held the title together," Dengg said. "We will all miss her very much."

Sisic remained active on social media throughout her time as Miss Austria, continuing to share glimpses of both her public appearances and her personal life with followers, including her ongoing relationship with the medical professionals who had treated her condition since childhood. Her willingness to speak candidly about a serious, lifelong health condition while serving in a highly visible public role distinguished her within Austria's pageant community, where she was widely regarded not only for her public duties as Miss Austria but for the openness with which she approached her own health struggles.

Sisic's death has also drawn renewed attention within the broader beauty pageant community to other young titleholders who have died in recent years, with her passing occurring while she was still the actively reigning Miss Austria, a distinction that sets her case apart from several other prior instances in which former pageant winners died years after their initial competition victories. Among those earlier cases, former Miss Teen Universe Lotte van der Zee, a Dutch model who won that pageant in 2017, died in 2019 at age 20 following a fatal heart attack suffered while on a ski vacation in Westendorf, Austria, a case that similarly drew widespread attention to sudden health crises affecting young pageant titleholders.

With Mission Austria confirming Sisic's death but not yet disclosing a specific cause, the exact circumstances surrounding her final days remain limited to what has been publicly shared by Austrian media outlets and the organization itself. Her documented history of congenital heart disease and multiple surgical interventions throughout her life provides context for her death, though no official statement has directly linked her passing to that underlying medical history as of this report.

As Austria's pageant community continues mourning Sisic's death, her legacy has increasingly come to be defined not solely by her Miss Austria title, but by her willingness to speak openly about a serious health condition during her time in the public eye, using her platform to encourage others navigating similar medical challenges rather than concealing her own struggles from public view.