Masters of their trades – WorldSkills Lyon 2024
The WorldSkills competition, which focuses on vocational skills, takes place every two years. This year competitors faced off between 10 and 15 September in Lyon, France. As a silver sponsor of the event, STABILA was there too.
People from a wide range of professions met at the exhibition centre in Lyon, from bricklayers, tilers and stonemasons to butchers, hairdressers and fashion designers. Team Germany, made up of the country's best, was among the competitors, with a total of 44 specialists in 39 disciplines. Altogether there were 1,400 competitors from around 70 countries and regions, competing in 64 professional disciplines.


The opening ceremony took place at the LDLC Arena in front of a packed audience. All participating nations had their fans and supporters, who arrived at the arena with flags and fan merchandise to cheer on their team in style. Similarly to the Olympics, the competitors entered the arena in their national teams and were then able to follow the exciting programme. One of the many guests of honour was French president Emmanuel Macron, who officially opened the 47th WorldSkills.
This launched the four days of competition. On the morning of 11 September, all the competitors arrived at the Eurexpo exhibition centre in Lyon, where they had their final briefings with the coaches in the various areas, and the tension and focus were palpable. One by one, the whistle blew or the bell rang for each skill, signalling that the competition was underway. At this point, the coaches were required to step back from their protégés. Their job now was to keep an eye on the other participants and ensure that the competition proceeded fairly.


As a sponsor, STABILA not only supported the event financially but also provided participants in relevant trades with appropriate measuring equipment. While the competitors were busy building, stirring, painting, cutting and measuring, visitors to the STABILA stand could find out about our products and test their strength in the R‑Type Challenge.

The competition areas in the arena changed from day to day, the pieces of work getting bigger, more detailed or involving new tasks. Everyone was determined to perform at their very best and take home one of the coveted medals.
On the last day of the competition, one after the other the final whistles sounded and the competitors had to finish their projects. Fans and audience members moved among the competitors, going from trade to trade to cheer on their teams in the final minutes. It was a unique scene that you'll only see at WorldSkills. Then it was time for the final assessments. Participants had to be patient, as the winners would not be crowned until the following day, particularly when it came to the neck-and-neck races.
On Sunday 15 September, all the participants together with their families, fans and sponsors were reunited at the Groupama Stadium (Parc Olympique Lyonnais) to round off WorldSkills with the grand closing ceremony. Germany finished ninth in the medals table with one gold, three silver, one bronze and 22 excellence medals.


But it wasn't just the German athletes who went home well satisfied with their results, because it was also a highly successful event for STABILA. Encouraging young talent is important to STABILA, something which the company puts into practice through the #my1Stabila campaign. We're already looking forward to EuroSkills 2025 in Herning, Denmark.