WorldSkills 2017 – outstanding success!

«But I still pulled it off, telling myself ‘I want to see this through to the end’. And now I actually made it.» She received vital support from her entire family, who accompanied her to Abu Dhabi. And especially from her expert, Martin Erlacher, to whom she is «extremely grateful»: «Without him I couldn’t have done it.» And now it’s time for everyone to celebrate, because they’ve really earned it these past days.

Beat Schranz (21), an electrician from Adelboden in the Bernese Oberland, was equally surprised by his brilliant results. The first day did not go well for him – although he did finish his work, he had to cut some corners. He says, visibly moved, that he can still hardly believe that he won the gold medal. It was an «incredible» experience for him to take the stage alongside the Swiss flag knowing that he is among the three best in the world in his trade. But then he was called up on stage again soon after to be awarded another gold medal, namely as «Best of Nation» with the highest score of the Swiss team.

Switzerland has indeed never had such a striking success to celebrate, with 11 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals. Not to mention 13 diplomas for excellence and three certificates. This means that over 90% of the SwissSkills team members earned at least a diploma.

With 51 trades in all, the Swiss team therefore attained the highest level on the winners’ rostrum in no less than one-fifth of them. The medal score in addition puts our young professionals at the top of the national ranking. In 2nd place overall, the SwissSkills team remains unchallenged as the best nation in Europe by far.