Toronto man wins world Excel spreadsheet championship [Video]

A Toronto man who excelled to secure the title of a global spreadsheet champion last week calls his unusual achievement a “satisfying victory.”

Michael Jarman won the Microsoft Excel World Championships in a Las Vegas arena on Dec. 4., after an hours-long competition in front of a couple of hundred people – and many others who watched the event on ESPN3 and YouTube streams.

Competitors were tasked with solving “out-of-the-box problems” by using their knowledge of Excel functions, data management skills and logical thinking.

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Jarman, who immigrated to Canada from the United Kingdom in 2017, received a cheque for US$5,000 and a wrestling-style belt with the title of spreadsheet champion.

The tricky part, Jarman said, was leaving Las Vegas with the belt in tow.

Travelling back to Toronto with it was “a nightmare,” he said, and taking it to the U.K. for a victory lap in front of his friends …