A highly skilled young person from Clitheroe received a Medallion of Excellence at her final appearance at the Worldskills Olympics.

Isabelle Barron went into the tournament in Lyon, on the back of success at last year’s European finals.

She narrowly missed out on finishing in the top three in the digital construction competition, which was marked on speed and accuracy over four days.

However she was one of the recipients of a Medallion of Excellence, with scores so close between competitors.

Isabelle said: “There were a lot of tears when I found out and there are people on the team I am close with so we had a hug and we were both crying.

“I was just super proud to see my flag up there and to know all that time had been worth it.”

Initially, she was disappointed having not seen the Union Flag lifted after the competition, but Isabelle was relieved after finding out she had received the Medallion.

The games have a cap on the age of competitors and for the 23-year-old the result marked her final games.

She added: “I am too old now to take part so that is the end of the journey as a competitor for me but hopefully I am going to stay involved to help the next group of people coming through.

“I want to pass on all the skills I have learnt because it seems like a waste to put so much energy into it and leave the next people to start from scratch, so it is good to invest it back in.”

Despite her British and European success, winning was never the main objective for Isabelle, who was focused on enjoying the environment of the competition and connecting with like-minded people.

She said: “The main bit for me is just being there with the whole team and you get close with people, and they truly understand what you are feeling and the pressures you put on yourself and to be able to share that experience with them is really good.”

This year was the 47th WorldSkills Olympics, which is a global movement bringing together people from across the world through competition-based training, assessment and benchmarking.

There were thousands of spectators including French President Emmanuel Macron and dozens of ministers of state and ambassadors at the competition in Lyon.

Isabelle got into the scheme after being advised by her tutor at Sheffield Hallam University where she studied architectural technology, and she offered advice to all those willing to participate.

She said: “I think to go into it really open-minded, it doesn’t matter how far you get into the competition but to dedicate yourself to something and you should just go for it and see what they can achieve if they put their minds to it.”

WorldSkills UK, a government-funded charity, in partnership with Pearson has selected, trained and prepared the team during an exhausted period of regional and national competitions.