More medals for Team UK at the WorldSkills 2022 Special Edition competition

Over the weekend, Team UK’s Craig Kennedy added to the medal tally, taking home a bronze for a phenomenal performance in car painting. We also had team members winning more Medallions for Excellence, proving world-class standards across a range of competitions, including Ellie Mumby in hairdressing, Will Hunt in welding and Mona Nawaz in digital construction. Congratulations to all of these incredible competitors.

Earlier in the competition we had our first gold medal from James Boyes in the cabinet making competition in Basel, Switzerland, and George Schembri landed bronze in the jewellery competition in Geneva. On top of this, Team UK’s competitors in Korea took home a hat-trick of medallions of excellence, with Lewis Newton getting his in the web technologies competition, Luke Jowett and Sai Putravu taking theirs in cyber security and George Hutchison winning his medallion of excellence in 3D Game art.

This is in addition to Team UK’s Liam Whitby & Kamil Zmich who achieved bronze in the Industry 4.0 competition in Stuttgart!

All our amazing competitors are flying the flag for Britain as a powerhouse in the global Skills Economy.

Our medal winners so far:

A cabinet making ace from Northampton has been crowned the world’s best at the WorldSkills 2022 Special Edition competition.

Twenty-two-year old James Boyes went up against rivals from 19 different countries, having been training for the ultimate prize since January 2020. Preparation for international competition is normally a two-year programme, but the global pandemic forced the finals, originally scheduled for 2021, to be pushed back a year.

Prior to the competition James said: “I am so excited to have made Team UK. It’s been a long journey to this point but all that hard work has really paid off. A massive thanks to my training manager and everyone else who supported me and pushed me so hard.”

Well done James, we’re all incredibly proud of you.

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22-year-old Craig Kennedy from Newtonards has been crowned world’s best paint technicians. The young apprentice competed in the international car painting final against youngsters from 14 other countries in Silkeborg from 18 – 21 October.

Following in his mechanic father’s footsteps, Craig said he chose an apprenticeship to combine working with earning money and avoiding the debts he would have accrued at university. He heard about the WorldSkills UK competitions when studying as part of his apprenticeship and won the car painting national final in 2019.

He says he originally found the pressure of competing daunting but now is much more relaxed and has really enjoyed meeting people from all over the UK.

He says his experiences so far have given him a real confidence and career boost. He hopes to one day set up his own business specialising in high end prestige vehicles. Craig believes that competing for his country is a real honour.

The UK has a pretty decent record in the car painting international competition. After a bronze in 2015, UK competitors brought home the silver at the two subsequent competitions (in 2017 and 2019) and now have a bronze to add to the tally.

23-year-old George Schembri from Wateringbury in Kent has been crowned as one of the world’s best young jewellers at the WorldSkills 2022 special edition competition in Geneva, Switzerland. He won his bronze medal after taking on rivals from 13 other countries. George came fourth in the national WorldSkills UK finals in 2019 and has been training since then for his opportunity on the world stage.

George says he really enjoys competing and has already learnt so much from taking part in the competitions and from other competitors.

Kamil Zmich from Sheffield and Liam Whitby from Langley Mill in Derbyshire have been crowned as two of the world’s top experts Industry 4.0 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Kamil is one of Team UK’s most decorated members with a gold, silver and bronze medals in the national final of the mechatronics skill competition, and now has bronze in Industry 4.0 to add to his collection. He says he thrives on the thrill and pressure of competition and performing in front of others. Kamil works for Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK and studied at UTC Sheffield.

Liam had to say ““I am so ecstatic to have made it to Team UK and that all the hard work has paid off. I always want to be the best I can and to push myself and competing in internationally is another opportunity for me to do just that.”

The judges in the Industry 4.0 final were looking for competitors to design and implement systems, introducing both software and hardware, and supporting programmes, especially those which look at risks such as cybersecurity.

Congratulations also go to Josh Sibley and Oliver Newdall who have done an incredible job representing Team UK in the mechatronics competition in Stuttgart. To compete at such a high level in a discipline which helps define the UK’s future Skills Economy is amazing.

Huge congratulations to our incredible competitors!