Young professionals fight for gold

Young professionals fight for gold

Herning in Denmark, 25 kilometers east of the North Sea coast, will be the main venue for the European Skills Championships from September 9th to 13th, 2025. Over 100,000 fans and enthusiasts from all over Europe are expected. Around 600 “young professionals” – these are not apprentices, but specialists under the age of 25 – will compete in 38 official competition professions in Scandinavia's largest event area, the MCH Herning Congress Center. For three days there will be competitions between hammering, carpentry, welding and milling. The Austrian preparations for the professional spectacle have long since begun: since last year, the best of the best have been selected as part of the “AustrianSkills” state championships. Now the final European Championship squad has been presented to the public – traditionally during the first team seminar in Linz: Austria is starting in Herning with 44 “young professionals” in 36 professions.

Dual training is key

Five competitions will be held as independent European professional championships in Austria and Switzerland. The European championship title in the professions of stonemasonry, glass construction technology, plumbing and digital construction will be chosen at the AustrianSkills 2025 in Salzburg (from November 20th to 23rd), while European Championship gold for butchers will be awarded in Switzerland in the autumn. At these competitions, Team Austria is represented by another five specialists. Including these competitions, the national team has 49 medal hopes in 41 professions. Upper Austria has the most members in Team Austria 2025 (15 participants), followed by Styria (ten starters) and Lower Austria (eight skilled workers). "The European Skills Championships are not only a stage for the best skilled workers in Europe, but also a showcase for the performance and innovative strength of our training system. We are proud that Austria is once again sending one of the largest national teams to EuroSkills with 44 outstanding talents. These 'young professionals' prove that dual training is the key to top performance in Europe," explains Josef Herk, President of SkillsAustria. Jürgen Kraft, Managing Director of SkillsAustria, knows: "The road to the European Championships is a real feat - both mentally and professionally extremely demanding. Our participants invest an enormous amount of time and energy in their preparation in order to be able to compete in top form. But the goal of competing with the best skilled workers in Europe is the reward for this hard work."