Grab your trowels, chisels and scissors: the WorldSkills competition has started

After the athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, it's time for some 1.400 artisans and workers under the age of 23 to take part in this international competition, organised from Wednesday to Sunday at the Lyon exhibition centre.

"You are the ones in the spotlight today. You are the stars, the great champions. So, take advantage of this excitement!" Joël Abati, mental coach of the French team, gives his last words of encouragement to the 63 participants from France.

The former international handball player is watching the hairdressing competition, which has just started with the first of seven scheduled events: a short bob cut, fringe, a bit of a seventies style.

Everyone has their own method. Hong Kong candidate Wing Cheik starts at the back, with the rest of her hair pulled back with clips, while her Hungarian neighbour Gertrud Horvath, with a more holistic approach, has already drawn the fringe.

In the audience, the parents of Marie Langlais, candidate for France, came from Brittany to support her. The young girl successively passed a CAP, a vocational baccalaureate and then a master's degree. This competition is "almost 10 years of learning in one go", says her mother Nathalie.

Further on, a small group of CAP students, who came specially from Charnay-lès-Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire), observe the masonry competition with an expert eye, scrutinizing the different techniques according to the countries. "It's great. These are rewarding things for the students," rejoices their teacher Franck Lanoizelé.

Sometimes the method is more uniform, as in the case of aircraft maintenance, a very international sector, underlines Fredrik Cederlöw, who represents Sweden. The category does not fail to attract attention with its helicopter.

The judges "mainly make sure that we go up there safely, that we look at everything, that we find all the faults, and that we write down the problems well so that we can find them later and fix them," explains the competitor.

Gain experience

While the others remain focused on their task, the plasterers finish their mission for the day after five hours of intensive work: the first partitions are erected, with the openings.

"I am judged on cleanliness, levels, verticality, lighting," explains Frenchman Axel Laumond, very happy to participate in a competition that highlights the construction trades. Later, his coatings will also be evaluated.

"There are a lot of people who come by, the media, friends who came to see me. So you have to stay in your model, in your bubble. It's quite different from the construction site," smiles the 22-year-old, who holds two CAPs, a vocational baccalaureate and technical training in heritage.

The audience also included the champions from previous editions.

"These competitions are used to raise awareness of craft professions that are little known. In stone cutting, we really have trouble recruiting," confides Adrien Nicolas, silver medalist in his category at the 2023 EuroSkills.

They are also beneficial for the participants, according to this "ambassador" who observes the competitors of the day making the basin of a fountain. "The competition helped me to mature". "Two years of competition, it saved me five years of business", in particular in time management, he explains.

"It allows us to raise awareness of professions that young people would not have been interested in," says Joël Fourny, president of the Chamber of Trades and Crafts (CMA France). "It is necessary to ensure the renewal of the workforce in our sector," he adds, specifying that 50% of craftsmen come from apprenticeships.