UK’s Sam Jones Wins Refrigeration Gold at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026

Sam Jones of the United Kingdom won gold in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (Skill 38) at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026, scoring 747 points in a field of 27 competitors. Minje Kim of Korea took silver with 737 points, and Xavier Belanger of Canada won bronze with 732. Medals were presented at the closing ceremony in Shanghai on 27 September.

The competition ran over four days, from 23 to 26 September, at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC). Refrigeration and Air Conditioning covers the design, installation, maintenance and repair of refrigeration and air conditioning systems in residential, commercial, construction and transport applications. Tasks in Shanghai included an air-to-water heat pump installation.

The top six finished within 24 points of each other. Zhanpeng Ye of China placed fourth on 730 points, followed by Jonas Danninger of Austria with 728 and Adam Morgan of Australia with 723. Only 17 points separated the gold medallist from fourth place.

Eleven more competitors received the Medal for Excellence, awarded to every competitor who reaches 700 points, the WorldSkills benchmark for world-class performance. The group included competitors from China, Austria, Australia, Hong Kong (China), Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Germany, with Germany’s Timo Jansen at exactly 700 points. In total, 14 of the 27 refrigeration and air conditioning competitors reached world-class level. The remaining 13 scored between 693 and 653 points, led by Brazil’s Keyla Carvalho Dias.

WorldSkills Shanghai 2026, the 48th WorldSkills Competition, brought together around 1,400 competitors from 68 countries and regions in 64 skills. The next competition will take place in Aichi, Japan, in 2028.

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning: Full Results, WorldSkills Shanghai 2026