Luke Haile wins bronze at WorldSkills

UK: Luke Haile, a refrigeration technician at Lightfoot Defence, won the bronze medal at tonight’s 47th WorldSkills Competition in Lyon.

Haile competed with 23 other young refrigeration engineers from around the world to join gold medallists Kang Ruan of China and Sz-Yuan Chen of Chinese Taipei on the winners’ rostrum at the OL Stadium, home of Olympique Lyonnais football club.

Winner of the WorldSkills UK Gold medal in 2022, Luke Haile was a former apprentice at Eastleigh College. He was previously named National Student of the Year at the Cooling Industry Awards in 2020 and Trainee of the Year in the ACR News Awards in 2021.

Before leaving for Lyon, he paid tribute to his employer Lightfoot Defence Ltd and colleagues for their support. “Their encouragement and investment in my development has been key to my successes so far, I’m appreciative for the opportunity to represent both myself and the company on such a global stage.”