Sam Shedden finished 12th in a 24-strong Car Painting field at WorldSkills Shanghai, scoring 705 points and earning a Medal for Excellence.
China’s Libo Duan was the clear winner on 774 points, but the competition behind him was extremely tight. Thailand’s Pawaret Wohanluek took silver with 730 points, ahead of the UK’s Oisin McKerr on 725. Switzerland followed with 724, Brazil 723 and Denmark 721, leaving just nine points between second and sixth place.
Shedden, an apprentice spray painter at Parramatta Smash Repairs, had already shown he could compete at this level by winning the Global Skills Challenge in Wollongong earlier this year, finishing ahead of the Chinese competitor who went on to claim gold in Shanghai.
Jack Richards finished 13th in the 19-strong Autobody Repair competition with 689 points. China’s Jiao Jiao took gold with 759 points, ahead of Japan’s Sho Yoshida on 732 and Switzerland’s Gilles Glauser on 725.
Richards was Australia’s first competitor in Autobody Repair at an international WorldSkills competition since 2013.
The two results came against a backdrop of Chinese dominance at the home competition. China collected 41 gold, 11 silver and four bronze medals, accounting for 56 of the 207 medal results across the event.