Glorious sunshine, leading representatives from national and federal government, famous folk singer Andreas Gabalier, ideal competition conditions and thousands of enthusiastic young people all made for a perfect start to the first competition day.

23.9.2021. The showdown of vocational excellence has started: over three days of competitions, around 400 international competitors from 19 nations ‒ and the guest countries of Albania, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates ‒ will be battling it out for gold, silver and bronze. There has already been a great deal of interest from the visitors on the first competition day, with around 7,500 people having already registered for the opening day alone. A total of 25,000 visitors have booked to attend the European Skills Championships between now and Sunday, including 10,000 school students on the first two competition days.

And, what’s more, the federal ministers Heinz Fassmann and Elisabeth Köstinger and the Styrian provincial minister Barbara Eibinger-Miedl ensured strong representation from national and local politics. But what would the competition kick-off have been without celebrity patron and enthusiastic skills supporter Andreas Gabalier? The famous folk singer couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit the contests. He was visibly inspired by the highly motivated competitors during his tour of the site, posing for numerous selfies and attracting a great deal of attention on social media with his appearance.

Our EuroSkills Heroes and ambassadors Birgit and Manfred were on duty as roving reporters on the first competition day, getting celebrities, sponsors, workshop managers, experts and many more interviewees in front of the microphone.

More pics from the Competition Days can be found on the EuroSkills 2021 Flickr-Account.