Team Austria is professional European champion

Team Austria is professional European champion

A veritable shower of medals deservedly rained down on the Austrian participants in the EuroSkills European Professional Championships in Gdansk, Poland. The 44 participants recently brought home seven gold, six silver, five bronze and nine “Medallions for Excellence” for top performances after the podium. There were standing ovations, red-white-red flags and thunderous applause at the reception of the returnees at the WKO in Vienna. More than 300 visitors, including friends, families, employers, sponsors and many more, welcomed them to the Julis Raab Hall. The political representatives present: WKÖ Vice President Philipp Gady, Economics Minister Martin Kocher, Education Minister Martin Polaschek, Youth State Secretary Claudia Plakolm and Skills Austria President Josef Herk.

"With 18 medals, you are at the top of Europe! This success has many fathers, but first and foremost it belongs to you," explained WKÖ Vice President Philipp Gady. To put it into perspective: Austria wins the medal table with 65 points ahead of France (64 points) and Switzerland (57 points). Behind them are Germany, Hungary and, ex aequo, host country Poland and Denmark, host of the 2025 Professional European Championships. Skills Austria President Herk also congratulated the participants: "It's a great feeling when representatives of other nations come to us and ask: How do you do it in Austria? This is the result of close cooperation between companies and the education sector, and it fills us with great pride." EuroSkills is not just a competition, but also a celebration of friendship. It shows a united Europe in which people come together peacefully and amicably to present and celebrate their achievements. Martin Kocher, Federal Minister of Labor and Economic Affairs, also attributes the domestic success to training: “The fact that only a few countries in the world have such a broad dual training system as Austria, in which 40 percent of a year complete vocational training, is an important factor.”

• Burgenland: Anna Maria Theurl & Lisa Lintschinger (Mode-Technologie, Gold)
• Kärnten: Johanna Stabentheiner (Malerei, Bronze), Bettina Veratschnig (Restaurant-Service, Bronze)
• Steiermark: Lara Tynnauer (Schönheitspflege, Gold), Anna Maria Theurl & Lisa Lintschinger (Mode-Technologie, Gold), Jürgen Perhofer (Möbeltischler, Silber), Denise Gringl (Hotel Rezeption, Bronze)
• Niederösterreich: Florian Steffek (Elektrotechnik, Silber), Paul Hilscher und Timon Schwarz (IT-Netzwerktechnik und Systemtechnik, Silber), Joachim Nimpf (Hochbau, Bronze)
• Oberösterreich: Niklas Danninger (Kälte- und Klimatechnik, Gold), Sandra Berger (Floristik, Gold), Lukas Dragoste und Christian Eberherr (Entrepreneurship, Silber), Lukas Frühwirth (Anlagenelektriker, Silber), René Krumphuber (Spenglerei, Bronze)
• Salzburg: Lisa Lintschinger & Anna Maria Theurl (Mode-Technologie, Gold)
• Tirol: Christoph Schipflinger und Stefan Winder (Gartengestaltung, Gold), Anna Maria Theurl & Lisa Lintschinger (Mode-Technologie, Gold), Anna Saurer (Bäckerei, Gold), Elias Krißmer (Kfz-Technik, Silber)
• Vorarlberg: Christoph Schipflinger und Stefan Winder (Gartengestaltung, Gold), Timo-Nils Theisl (Gold, Fliesenleger)
• Wien: Anna Saurer (Konditorei, Gold), Paul Hilscher und Timon Schwarz (IT-Netzwerktechnik und Systemtechnik, Silber)

The young Tyrolean Elias Krissmer, who won the silver medal in the automotive technician category, gives a clear insight into the emotional world of the participants: "It's an extremely unpleasant situation: you wait and wait - and then when the medals are announced in the skill in which you took part, you suddenly don't realize anything anymore. The nervousness was correspondingly high at the medal ceremony. The last three days were also an emotional rollercoaster. Especially there In our profession it is very difficult to assess how you are traveling. In other professions it is easier.