Wu Dajing of China celebrates victory after men's 500m final of short track speed skating at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena, Gangneung, South Korea on Feb 22, 2018. Wu Dajing claimed gold medal in a time of 0:39.584 and set new world record. Photo: Xinhua/Wang Haofei

Chinese skater/world record holder Wu Dajing was disqualified from an event at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating in Beijing on Saturday after a false start. The 27-year-old Olympic champion remained positive about the situation, joking about his mistake on social media, where fans sent him messages of encouragement. 

According to a report from China Youth Daily on Saturday, Wu made the false start  during the men's 500-meter final. Wu was not the only false starter on the ice at the Capital Gymnasium, Canadian athlete Jordan Pierre-Gilles was also penalized for the same reason during the event. 

Chinese-Hungarian skater Shaolin Sándor Liu, whose Chinese name is Liu Shaolin, took first place with a time of 40.711 seconds, according to the results on the ISU official site.

"I don't quite understand the punishment I was told. But what I can do is study more about the event's rules and prepare for the next one," Wu told the media during an after-event interview.

Wu later expressed his feelings while posting a playback video of his performance in the arena on China's Sina Weibo, where the athlete has a total of 8 million followers. Many of these fans showed Wu support, telling him to "not stress out."

"I believe in the judgment of the referee and hope Wu Dajing will not put too much pressure on himself," read one comment under Wu's post.

"It's a little bit regrettable, but it's never wrong to learn from experience," read another.

In February 2018, the speed skater won the men's 500-meter short track event held at the Gangneung Ice Arena at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, and successfully broke the world record for the event twice during both the quarterfinals and the finals with respective times of 39.800 and 39.584 seconds.

"Today, I didn't give my competitors a chance and I kept my speed from the start," he said in the interview after claiming the gold in 2018. 

"More importantly I think I believed in myself."

In regard to the mistake, Wu said on social media that he has played his performance back several times. 

"It was rare for me to have such a quick response like I did this time at the arena, yet sadly it was a false start," Wu joked.

Born in Northeast China's Jilin Province, Wu became interested in winter sports when he was 10, according to Sanlian Lifeweek Magazine.

In October 2010, a 14-year-old Wu won second place at a national short-track speed skating competition, where he was spotted by national team coach Li Yan and recruited into the short track skating team before he won gold in 2018.

Global Times