Personal Statement
Hi! I'm Benjamin Lee and I'm a 800m and 400m runner from Finland. I'm very motivated athletically as well academically. I am the 2020 national bronze medalist in Finland. I am also 4x national champion in my own age group. You can see more of my results from this link: https://www.tilastopaja.eu/db/at.php?Sex=1&ID=366032 If you have a Tilastopaja account. (You can also check the Finnish side and search my name and you'll find more results dating all the way back to when I started track as a 7 year old in 2011.) If you do not have a Tilastopaja account you can also check my results from this link: https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/finland/benjamin-lee-14882554
My main goal in track and field long term is to compete at the Olympics and get medals in global and European championships. In the collegiate system my goal is to improve enough so that I can get to that world class level. In addition to that I want to preform well in the collegiate system and hopefully become one of the best in the NCAA.
Academically my goals are to get good grades and learn things that would help me in adult and working life. I'm hard working in academics as well but being a student-athlete is not easy and I don't have as much time as other people to study. I believe I still have enough time to work on my academic side.
My goals this season were to break 1.50 in the 800m and break 48 in the 400m. I believe that I am in good enough shape right now to run under 1.50 since my personal record was made with a negative split of about 55.5 and the finishing time was 1:50.20. The 400m has now become my secondary event, but I believe I can still compete in 400m at a very high level. My personal best in the 400m is 48.28.
In addition to those goals I wanted to get a senior national medal this season and make a final spot in the European U18 Championships. I did managed place third in the Senior National Championships but the European U18 Championships were cancelled because of the coronavirus. I am very happy my senior medal but it has still left me hungry for next year. I also managed to place fourth in the Finland vs Sweden meeting were I set my personal record and U18 national record. I was fairly happy with the race because it indicated I was in shape to run well under 1:50 and possibly even under 1:49.
