Mark Vender
The WorldSkills international competition for Refigeration and Air Conditioning has been run and won in Nuremberg, Germany, as part of the giant Chillventa HVAC&R trade exhibition.
Sixteen young technicians from around the world competed in the event as part of the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition. The event was organised after the international competition planned for Shanghai earlier in the year was cancelled due to the pandemic.
As with other WorldSkills competitions, the aim of the refrigeration and air conditioning event is to highlight the skills involved in the trade and raise the profile of vocational education. Being part of Chillventa, which saw more than 30,000 people come through its doors, certainly gave the participants plenty of exposure.
Representing Australia was Tom Clancy from Western Australia, who was supported by WorldSkills international training manager and expert Carl Balke, Affil.AIRAH. Over four days, Clancy and the other competitors tackled the challenges set out for them, including tasks related to fabrication, refrigeration installation, electrical fault-finding, and a refrigeration fault-finding task.
The gold medal was awarded to Chia-Cheng Tien of Chinese Taipei. There was a three-way tie for the silver medal between Hugo Geraldo from Portugal, Patrick Danninger from Austria, and Korea’s Wonyeong Seo.
Medals of excellence were also awarded to Chun Chung Chi (Hong Kong, China), Frederik Stiegen (Germany), Clément Lambert (France), and Yuki Kondo (Japan).
Australian Skill Competition Manager Noel Munkman, M.AIRAH, says that although Clancy did not claim a medal, he performed well.
“Tom proudly represented Australia on the world stage after nearly three years of dedicated training and commitment,” says Munkman. “Congratulations to all the competitors who were stepped up and were prepared to test their skills in front of their peers at the world’s largest RAC exhibition.
“Thank you Kirby, Refrigerant Reclaim Australia, Australia Refrigeration Council, RACCA, TAFE Qld, TAFE WA and all the other sponsors and supporters who helped Tom and Carl prepare and compete on the world’s stage.”
Full results are available at the WorldSkills Germany website.
The next competition will be held in Lyon, France, in 2024.
Image and video courtesy of WorldSkills Germany.
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