17-year-old Kwang Bom crashed twice during the heat. A restart was called after the North Korean lost his footing within seconds, as he immediately looked outmatched by skaters from South Korea, Japan and the USA.
However, during both attempts it appeared that the youngster tried to sabotage the performance of his Japanese competitor.
ショートトラック競技で日本選手をコケさせようとする北朝鮮選手 pic.twitter.com/yAMlmNrGVq
— netgeek (@netgeek_0915) February 20, 2018
The second heat resulted in disqualification of the North Korean athlete. Sakazume, however, took the high road, saying the move was "unintentional" in his opinion.
