A 21-YEAR-OLD from St Ives has been crowned the fourth best beauty therapist in the world at an international event held in Germany.

Katie Wright, of Ansley Way, was talent-spotted by judges at a competition while representing Cambridge Regional College and since then has not looked back.

She beat 1,000 women to be crowned UK champion, travelling to Australia and Finland to compete.

Earlier this month she battled it out against 23 competitors from across the globe at the 42nd WorldSkills Competition in Leipzig which pits the world’s finest young professionals in skilled trades and technologies against each other.

After performing six treatments and competing for around 20 hours, Miss Wright came fourth and received a Medallion of Excellence.

She also achieved the highest marks for a UK beauty therapy contestant in the competition’s history.

Miss Wright, who worked at Harrods in London and is now working at Salon at No 5 in Cambridge, said: “I was interested in beauty therapy from an early age, ever since I used to go with my mum and watch her get her nails done.

“I went to CRC to study beauty therapy after I did my GCSEs and was entered in a regional competition where I won gold and that’s where I got spotted.”

She said: “You can only enter the competition once but hopefully I can go in to coaching or mentoring and be involved again. It was brilliant to take part because we all supported each other and everyone became really close.”

The UK team won six medals with gold medals in brick laying and cabinet building.