Meet S. Korea’s 18-year-old world drone champion

In a South Korean rice field, the teenage world drone-racing champion is preparing to defend his title in one of the planet’s fastest and highest-tech sports.

But at all of 18 years old, Kang Chang-hyeon fears he is quickly passing his prime to compete at top flight levels.

On the starting signal, Kang and his three teammates send their craft buzzing furiously into the air and hurtling around an obstacle course set up on the bare earth in Hwaseong, south of Seoul.

The only human movement was the twitch of fingers on handsets, which the pilots use to control the aircraft while wearing virtual-reality goggles that give them a drone’s-eye…