Tag: Excel

The Microsoft Excel World Champion isn’t worried about Copilot beating him (yet) – PCMag

In the US, you can catch the championships on sports channels like ESPN. “The fact I’ve been televised from a sports channel is just really funny,” Jarman says. “It’s awesome. All my friends at uni were rugby and football players, much sportier than me. And now it’s like, ‘Who’s a televised sportsman now?’ It’s just very entertaining.” …

“I don’t think Copilot is anywhere near [being] able to beat me or Andrew or anything like that,” Jarman says. Before each round at the championship, Microsoft advertised Copilot by showing videos of people solving questions with it. The competitors, who are a tight-knit bunch, found this “amusing, because it was all the easy questions Copilot was answering,” Jarman says. “I was out there going, ‘Well, yeah, but I could have done that in three seconds.’ But at some point, if it continues getting better, which I think it will, and it can beat me or Andrew, then we’re all out of a job,” Jarman says.

Twelve dudes and a hype tunnel: Scenes from the ‘Super Bowl for Excel nerds’ – The New York Times

“I remember thinking ‘Well, this is ridiculous, why do we have this?’” Mr. Jarman, 30, a British financial consultant who lives in Toronto, said of the tunnel. “But it’s all in good fun. And if the other e-sports do it, we should too.” Mr. Grigolyunovich said his vision for future tournaments includes more spectators, bigger sponsors and a million-dollar prize for the winner. For now, many fans find out about the Excel championship through ESPN’s annual obscure sports showcase, where it is sandwiched between competitions like speed chess and the World Dog Surfing Championships.