the essential
Claudie Beuchard, hairdressing professor at the CMA in Lézignan, brought the two French selections to the top step of the Worldskills podium. After Laurence Limey in 2022, Marie Langlais covered herself in gold during this 2024 edition which took place in Lyon 15 days ago.
The Olympic and Paralympic Games took center stage this summer. France also hosted the Worldskills, which are the Olympic games for professions. They take place every two years and this year Lyon hosted them from September 10 to 15. These games brought together 1,500 competitors from 65 nations in 64 different professions. France, here too, defended itself brilliantly, ranking 3rd in medals behind China and South Korea with 13 medals, including six gold. In the hairstyle category, a Breton woman, Marie Langlais, won one.
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This 22-year-old young woman was coached by an Audoise, Claudie Beuchard, who achieved the double after also bringing Laurence Liney, from Sablé-sur-Sarthe, to the highest step of the podium in 2022. Professor of hairdressing at CFAI Henri Martin, renamed CMA Formation Lézignan-Corbières, she was delighted to have once again trained a world champion in the professions. “I am very proud to have won with Marie, it is the fruit of a long team effort, made up of around ten people. Alone we go faster, together we go further”, says she enthused after this victory in this four-day competition bringing together 27 competitors from all over the world.
A remarkable journey
Claudie Beuchard’s career is remarkable. This little woman has climbed all the ranks before becoming a National Hairdressing Expert. She accompanied the French representative for a year. “Since September 2023, I have had Marie Langlais under my control who, after winning the national title, had been selected for the 2024 Worldskills. I had to build a team around her, that I coordinate in order to give ourselves the best chance of success.
DR
In the end, she supervised five weeks of technical training, whether in Lézignan or Quimper where her protégé is from, in the salon dedicated to her. In addition, two additional weeks with the entire French team were dedicated to mental coaching. If all this work was intense and exhausting, it is good to add that our Audoise also serves as an international juror. During the competition and the seven events, she judged the competitors with the exception of course of the Frenchwoman. Having reached the firmament of the hairdressing professions, the resident of a small village in Minervois looks back on her journey: “I started in 2001, being a competitor myself and having won the regional title. From 2010 to 2020 , I was a judge for the Occitanie region during the national final, then I entered the big leagues by joining the staff of the French careers team.
“Never two without three”
With two World champions now, Claudie Beuchard does not want to disprove the saying “never two without three” and is considering, why not, achieving a hat-trick during the next Worldskills which will take place in Shanghai in 2026. If her supporting role during all the training and briefings during the competition is obvious, the merits are shared with Marie Langlais who showed all her qualities at the Euroexpo in Lyon two weeks ago. “She is perseverant, determined, serious, and has a taste for effort. It was no surprise to me that she won,” comments the coach.
“At home, everyone has a smile”
The Breton woman returns the compliments: “Claudie is caring, always there in good times and bad, she has sharing in her genes which she enhances on a daily basis”. Having come several times to our department which she did not know, the Quimperoise adds with a wink: “At home, everyone has a smile and the weather is always nice”. Now, our golden coach has resumed his classes at CMA Formation Lézignan, a center of excellence for hairdressing in France, for the greatest benefit of the apprentices who take his courses.
