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In the 47th edition of the largest professional education competition on the planet, the Brazilian delegation faced 1,400 competitors from 69 countries and left France, Taiwan, and India behind in the points ranking
WorldSkills 2024 ended with Brazil on the podium of countries. Between September 10 and 15, 2024, in Lyon, France, 64 students and alumni from SENAI and SENAC competed in 56 of the 59 categories of the world championship of technical professions and concluded the competition with 8 medals, according to the Industry Portal: 1 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze.
In the overall points ranking, according to CNI, Brazil finished in 2nd place, behind only China and ahead of France, Taiwan, and India. Besides the podium medals, 27 Brazilians received medals of excellence in 23 occupations, the recognition given to those who score above the world average in their profession.
The size of the competition: 1,400 competitors from 69 countries
WorldSkills is equivalent to an Olympics, but for professions. Every 2 years, the best young professionals on the planet face off in timed practical tests of welding, mechatronics, confectionery, robotics, electricity, and dozens of other occupations, judged by international panels with meticulous criteria.
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WorldSkills 2024, the 47th edition in history, gathered in Lyon 1,400 competitors from 69 countries, according to the Industry Portal. Brazil arrived with a task force of about 170 people: 64 competitors, 57 technical specialists, and 36 interpreters, a national selection structure set up to compete on equal footing with industrial powers.
The gold came from the salon: Brazil’s world champion
Brazil’s only gold in the edition has a name, surname, and address: Bruna Pimentel Martins, from Rio de Janeiro, world champion in the Hairdressing category, according to the Industry Portal. Faced with the result, her reaction summed up the magnitude of the achievement: “When I saw the result I was like, ‘I can’t believe it’!”
It’s worth measuring what this title means. In a test where every technical detail of cutting, coloring, and finishing is scored by judges from various countries, the young woman from Rio surpassed the best professionals from powers like France, South Korea, and Japan in the specialty, proving that high technical performance doesn’t only reside in factories.
The 4 Silvers: from CNC Milling Machine to Patient Care
The Brazilian silver came from where the country has an industrial tradition. According to the Industry Portal, André Luis Dono, from São Paulo, ranked 2nd in the world in CNC Milling, and João Lucas Gomes Guimarães, also from São Paulo, repeated the position in CNC Turning, the two categories that measure the world elite of precision machining, the foundation of the entire metal-mechanic industry.
Completing the list of silvers were Victor Rodrigo de Freitas Ferreira, from Minas Gerais, in Industrial Design Technology, and Estéfany Mariana dos Santos Marengoni, from Paraná, in Health Care. Four different states, four distinct areas, one same standard: the top of the world.
The Bronzes and the 27 Medals of Excellence
The Brazilian podium closed with 3 bronzes, according to the Industry Portal: João Luiz Diniz Carvalho (MG) in Industrial Mechanics, Nathan Crepaldi Rodrigues (SP) in Optoelectronics, and Samuel França dos Santos (SP) in Logistics and International Shipping.
As revealing as the podium is the group right behind it. There were 27 medals of excellence in 23 different occupations, the seal given to those who perform above the world average. In other words: in almost half of the categories it competed in, Brazil placed people among the best on the planet, from mechatronics to restaurant services.
This distribution matters more than it seems. A country can be lucky with an isolated talent in one category; no country spreads above-average performance across 23 occupations without a solid training system behind it. It’s the difference between winning the lottery and having a production line of excellence working in series, class after class.
Only China Ahead: the Final Score of WorldSkills 2024
In the final score by points total, according to CNI, the order was as follows: China in 1st, Brazil in 2nd, followed by France, Taiwan, and India. The detail that adds weight to the result: Brazil beat the host France on its own turf and left behind economies with a long tradition of technical training.
For a country that still battles the stigma that technical education is a plan B, finishing a world skills competition ahead of almost the entire industrialized planet is quite a statement about the quality of Brazilian professional education when it receives real structure.
A champion-making machine since 1983
The result in Lyon didn’t fall from the sky. According to CNI, Brazil has been competing in WorldSkills since 1983 and has been stacking elite campaigns: in Kazan 2019, for example, the country finished in 3rd place overall, with 13 medals, including 2 gold, 5 silver, and 6 bronze, in addition to 28 certificates of excellence.
Four decades of participation have transformed the Brazilian professional team into one of the most respected in the tournament, with its own system of state and national selections that filters, among millions of students from the SENAI and SENAC network, the 60 or so names that wear the country’s jersey.
What this says about the technical job market
Behind the medals, there is an economic thesis. Gustavo Leal, general director of SENAI and Brazil’s official delegate in the competition, summarized the point: the greatest merits of the competition are showing young people the path of professional education and proving that education connected to the company and the job market transforms lives, according to the Industry Portal.
The account aligns with what the Brazilian industry is experiencing today: there is a lack of qualified people in machining, mechanics, electricity, and automation, exactly the areas in which the country has just climbed the world podium. Each of these medals is a billboard for technical careers that pay well and still have open positions.
The path for those who want to get there
The path that takes a technical course student to the world competition goes through internal competitions, state selections, and a national selection, always within the professional education network. The competitor trains for years with dedicated specialists, in the same format as an Olympic athlete, until representing the country.
The detail that often goes unnoticed is that this training not only forms medalists: it forms instructors, factory technicians, and entrepreneurs. Many former competitors return to the network as specialists, multiplying the international quality standard among thousands of new students. It’s a cycle that self-replenishes with each edition of the tournament.
For the young person choosing a career now, Lyon’s message is direct: technical education has become an elite path, with a world podium, guaranteed employment in industrial areas, and salaries that compete with traditional university careers.
What Remains After Lyon
The 2nd place at WorldSkills 2024 puts Brazil back in the race for the top that it has occupied in previous editions and puts pressure on the next generation of competitors, who are already starting their selections aiming at the next edition of the tournament. The bar for WorldSkills 2024 is set: only China was ahead.
And here’s a challenge for the reader: if Brazilian technical education competes equally with the entire world, why is it still treated as a second option here? Tell us in the comments if you would take, or have already taken, an industrial technical course.
