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Final push for WorldSkills Lyon as Team UK ramps up training 

Competitors enter international pressure tests to train before WorldSkills Lyon

Team UK competitors are making a final push in their gruelling training schedule to be at their peak for the WorldSkills international competitions, known as the “skills Olympics”, in France next month.

The 31 skilled young people have just over a month left of training before flying to Lyon, France, just days after the Paralympic closing ceremony in Paris, with hopes to bring home gold, silver and bronze medals across 27 skills including cyber security, digital construction and hairdressing.

Their Olympics-style regime involves specialist training with former WorldSkills medal winners, remote assessments and international pressure tests against peers from other countries to provide insights into their training programmes.

Yesterday, Team UK renewable energy competitor Danny McBean competed in a friendly training event at Doncaster College alongside his Japanese counterpart Gunyasu Takumi.

The three-day international pressure test from July 29 to August 1 involved maintenance tasks such as changing hydraulic fluid oil and gearbox oil on wind turbines using Doncaster College’s facilities. The event included a mini competition yesterday.

Training manager Chris Turnbull told FE Week that both competitors were “pretty even”. McBean made a “small improvement” to his capability in May after receiving specialist training in Quebec, Canada.

Hamidreza Jafarnejad, curriculum lead of IoT at DN Colleges Group, said: “By leveraging our state-of-the-art labs and equipment, this joint training session not only enhances the skills and preparation of both UK and Japanese gold medallists but also solidifies Doncaster’s position as a global hub for renewable energy innovation and training.”

The UK will participate in the renewable energy competition for the first time in Lyon, after it was introduced at the WorldSkills Special Edition in 2022. China and Japan were the joint gold winners that year.

McBean, who specialises in electrical installation and won gold at the UK national finals last year, told FE Week that he will be focusing on the digital aspect of the competition before going to Lyon.

“I feel pretty confident working with the mechanical side of it,” he said. “The only thing I haven’t really got is the design software so I think I will be heavily focused on how to use that.”

Turnbull said training McBean in the design and simulation software would involve “designing a solar install either on a house or a factory, design a wind farm, and placements of wind turbines”.

“Danny is a very cool, calm, collected person. I’m very confident that whatever problems and issues come up, he’ll take it on with quite a level head. In fact, he’s generally calmer than me,” he added.

A spokesperson from WorldSkills Japan said Turnbull “has taught us a lot of valuable maintenance and fault finding.”

“[Takumi] did very well and is a credit to Japan,” they said. “We look [forward] to securing another medal.”

Doncaster College is also home to another Team UK member, Oska Ready, who will participate in the cooking competition.

Chef lecturer Simon Barton said: “As a tutor, it has been an honour and a privilege to have played a small part in Oska’s WorldSkills UK journey and we wish him all the best for Lyon!”

Meanwhile, many other Team UK members have completed their international pressure tests in Switzerland, Finland, and across the UK. 

Some experienced training with former competitors such as the 3D game art competitor Yasmin George who got masterclasses from former gold champion Dan McCabe.

The 31-strong team of young apprentices and students will battle against 1,500 global counterparts from 65 countries during the competition, which takes place from September 10-15.

To celebrate their achievements, Team UK have been invited to an afternoon tea reception hosted by The Rt Hon. Lord Knight of Weymouth in the House of Commons this October.

It comes after FE Week uncovered monetary rewards to WorldSkills medallists from other countries – an initiative that industry bosses in the UK have called for.

FE Week is the media partner of WorldSkills UK and Team UK.

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