Sion Hughes, a 25-year-old head chef at The Spa at Carden Park, won through from the competition’s North Europe heat, organised by Worldchefs, in Rimini, Italy. He received a silver medal with 85 points to qualify with an Estonian chef for the global final at the Worldchefs Congress & Expo 2024.

He said: “I’m really buzzing to qualify for the global final. It was a tough, especially as it was my first senior competition. The marking was lot stricter than it is in the junior competitions and little things have cost me points.”

Sion praised the support of Calum Smith, pastry chef at Shrewsbury School, who was his commis and Culinary Association of Wales culinary director Graham Tinsley who was his mentor and coach.

Graham added: “It’s a fantastic achievement when you consider that both Sion and Calum were in the Junior Culinary Team Wales in Luxembourg just a few months ago and they are now competing against some of the best senior chefs in North Europe. The feedback they had from the judges was amazing but a couple of things have cost them 15 points and a gold medal. We now have 18 months to prepare for the final in Singapore.”