In Alabama, Lai and her rivals had to contend with one of the hazards of drone racing: storms and heavy rain. The four-round qualifier began on Saturday, with the first two rounds completed as planned, but rounds three and four were postponed until Sunday morning because of heavy rain.

Lai was ranked 30th out of 31 after qualifying before being eliminated in her round -of-32 race, followed by another knockout in the double-elimination repechage on Sunday when her drone collided with the obstacles set in the Proctective Stadium.

The top three drone racers are all teenagers: gold medallist was 17-year-old Killian Rousseau of France, silver medallist was Pawel Laszczak, 19, and bronze medallist was Spanish Alejandro Zamora, 14.

But 34-year-old Lai had already made her biggest impact, as a trailblazer for drone racing in Hong Kong.

“The super hot weather in Birmingham is very challenging, which more or less affected her concentration,” a spokesman for the Hong Kong Drone Sports Association said.

“The venue is the opening ceremony’s stadium, a lot bigger than expected, we need to adjust our drones and the way to fly is a bit different from our previous experience.”

Before the Birmingham deluge had come a relative whirlwind of interest, as Lai was given a send-off at the airport, having earlier posed with Hong Kong lawmakers at a flag presentation ceremony for the city’s 17-strong athlete delegation.

It was a far cry from Lai’s first exposure to drones nine years ago. That arose from her interest in photography when she was given a drone by her father as a present, but it was after joining the police that she learned to manoeuvre them.

Women’s speed skating on track was also in action on Saturday, with Vanessa Wong and Karinne Tam Tsz-ching competing in the sprint 1,000-metres qualifying, where they finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the same heat, unable to advance to the next round.