It has been a long but thrilling road for the 21-year-old from Clunes, whose journey to the international championship began several years ago when he competed in the regional championship in 2015 and again in 2017, when he took home gold.

He went on to compete at the 2018 WorldSkills National Championship in Sydney, where he won a bronze medal.

After this success, Mr Coon was chosen to join the Skills Squad, where he trained with a number of managers and competitors for several months, sharpening their skills and making a trip to China, before the Global Skills Challenge.

He won a gold medal at the challenge, securing his place as the Australian bricklaying competitor at the WorldSkills International Competition in Russia.

Mr Coon was part of a team of 15 Australian apprentices and tradespeople - known as Skillaroos - who made the trip to Russia to show off their chosen skill against competitors from 66 other countries.

The challenge was huge: four days of competing, or 22 hours, in order to complete five different modules.

The challenge, devised by an independent designer, was revealed the day before the competition was to kick off. The requirement was to create separate letters to form the word 'Russia' with various detailing in each letter, including a panel of render and curve cutting.

"It was really challenging," Mr Coon said. "There was a lot involved but it looked really good."

Mr Coon said he had enjoyed every minute of his journey to the championship and would encourage others to go on the journey too.

"I learnt heaps of skills, how to be more efficient and am now much more confident," he said. "It's been unreal."

Mr Coon now has lots of contacts across the globe and has met many new friends along the way too, who he plans to visit in the near future.

Mr Coon placed eighth in bricklaying, receiving a medallion of excellence, something he is proud of given the host of international talent among the 31 competitors.

"I was beaten by some pretty good competitors from so many different countries so you can't really complain or be down about it."

He was supported on his journey by his trade teacher Peter Eltringham at Federation University and his experts Eric Davis and Troy Everett.

Australia improved its position on the international ladder by moving up from tenth to eighth with its overall performance this year, with several Australians winning medals, securing its place as the highest-ranked English-speaking country.

The Courier, Ballarat