Team UK celebrates WorldSkills 2013 success

Team UK celebrated a triumphant medal haul last night that included gold for cabinet making and bricklaying at the WorldSkills 2013 competition in Leipzig, Germany.

The UK won silver in stonemasonry, and bronze in autobody repair, aircraft maintenance and electrical installations. The country also bagged 17 medallions for excellence.

That was enough to put the UK in tenth place in the global rankings, with Korea winning 23 medals to once again reach the top spot.

A Team UK spokeswoman said the position was to be expected, based on the size of the team and skills entered – despite the country coming fifth in the event two years ago.

“As host nation, the UK entered a larger team into more skills at WorldSkills London 2011,” she said.

“Based on the results, we have roughly the same proportion of team achieving the world standard as we did at WorldSkills London 2011. Behind those results are some really impressive individual performances – for example the highest ever score for the UK in the manufacturing team challenge – and we will be looking to build on this for WorldSkills Sao Paulo 2015.”

A total of 52 countries/regions took part in the event, with around a thousand people aged 18-25 competing in 46 skill areas.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “British ambition and ingenuity has once again taken on and beaten the best in the world and I extend my congratulations to Team UK. As we compete in the global race, this government is on the side of ambitious young people who want to work hard and get on and we will continue in our efforts to build the biggest and best apprenticeship programme.”

Natalie Thornhill

(Pictured: Bricklaying winner Ashley Terron with training manager Mike Burdett)