Lyon, France - September 14, 2024

At the final day of the 47th WorldSkills Competition in the French city of Lyon, the race for medals heated up, with participants from roughly 70 nations showing their mettle.

Formerly known as the International Vocational Training Organization, WorldSkills is an international charity, which organizes national championships for vocational skills. Every two years, the organization hosts a competition, attracting competitors from around the world.

This year's competition ran from Wednesday to Saturday, with the closing ceremony on Sunday. The event brought together approximately 1,400 participants from nearly 70 countries and regions to compete in 59 skill categories spanning vocations ranging from artwork to welding.

China sent 68 participants to participated in 59 different disciplines.

Teams say it is a collaborative environment, but winning gold can help make their professional career's sparkle.

Medals may be up for the grabs but the goal of the biannual Workskills Expo is also for crowds here to draw inspiration.

This event is designed to give people a little taste of different parts of the working world and what ingredients are needed to be successful in a chosen career.

The expo also gives delegations the opportunity to learn from one another.

This biannual event is seen as an opportunity to try and address shared problems like water pollution.

Several days of tough competition culminates in a medal ceremony. And the hope is that these competitors will inspire a new generation of skilled workers to come out of the woodwork.

Shanghai is scheduled to play host to the competition's 48th edition in September 2026.

Shotlist:
Lyon, France - Sept 14, 2024:
1. Various of Chinese competitor welding;
2. Various of judges evaluating work of Chinese competitors;
3. Jewelry making in progress;
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Zou Ningxin, jewelry expert, Team China (starting with shot 3):
"I think it's for their career, for the whole of their life. And then they can join this field and they can have a very good start of their journey, their life.";
5. Various of competitor painting;
6. Various of competitors from different countries;
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Shawna Bourke, Director, Marketing and Communications, WorldSkills International (starting with shot 6):
"They're able to come here and see how they match up against other countries. It's a benchmarking system as well as an individual assessment of the competitors who are representing their nations.";
8. China stand with sign of "WorldSkills Shanghai 2026"; Japan stand, visitors;
9. Booths, visitors;
10. Visitors watching competition; competitor;
11. Chinese competitor working on water processing;
12. Screen showing schematic diagram of water processing;
13. Water being processed by device;
14. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Zhan, water technology expert, Team China (starting with shot 13):
"Urban water sewage treatment and industrial water reuse are the fundamental ways to solve this problem. So, water technology is very important today.";
15. Various of hairdresser at work;
16. Carpenter working;
17. Visitors;
18. Various of robotic dog moving.

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