The result leaves Beisenbayev, 44th in the Hong Kong-staged World Cup last month, scrambling to avoid a repeat of his Tokyo Olympics qualifying fate, when he was foiled by Ng’s teammate, Oscar Coggins.

“The Kazakh guy [Beisenbayev] has never qualified for an Olympics, this is his last chance, and we are beginning to see some cracks in his armour,” Wright said. “He is beginning to panic a little bit, the team all looked very panicked in China [at sprint championships], and they are making mistakes.

“Seeing the interaction between the team, on and around the racecourse, they look very anxious and worried, and they are not performing well. He did not do well in Hong Kong either, so that is two races in a row [where performances were sub-par].”

Wright said he would not try to second-guess the Kazakh team’s race strategy in Hatsukaichi, preferring to focus on “our plan and processes”.

He acknowledged, nonetheless, that his six-strong men’s team, also featuring Robin Elg, Nicholas Tsang Cheung-sing, Mark Yu Shing-him, Yip Tak-long, and Hung tik-long, would “have to be aware of the position of the Kazakh athletes, so we are not helping them to race well”.

Joined in Japan by teammates Hilda Choi Yan-yin and Cade Wright, Brown is trying to chase down another Kazakh, Ekaterina Shabalina, for the women’s new flag position, which is awarded to the top-ranked male and female whose country or region has not qualified for the Games.

The 24-year-old gained ground in Dexing, finishing seventh, seven places in front of Shabalina, but was left to rue a mistake on the first transition that Wright believed cost his athlete the race victory.

“Bailee is super fit, but it did not show at the sprint championships, because of a couple of fatal errors,” Wright said.

“She has a very big opportunity this weekend. The Kazakh girl’s biggest weakness is her swimming, if Bailee has a strong swim over the longer distance, and gets with a group at the front on the bike, she has a good chance of bridging the gap [in Olympic qualifying standings].

“One of the reasons for hosting the World Cup was to put the athletes in high-pressure situations, so they could make their mistakes, and allow us to iron them out before Sunday.”

Wright will review race plans leading up to the May 24 Olympic qualification cut-off date when he knows the results of Sunday’s events, which offer significant qualifying points. For a successful outcome in Japan, he said tactics and execution would need to be “completely on point, because any mistakes are exaggerated over this distance”.

Wright, meanwhile, has received “no official communication” over the Olympic triathlon potentially losing its swimming leg, because of concerns over bacteria in the River Seine. Tony Estanguet, the Paris 2024 president, said this month that in the event of contingency plans failing, “there is a final decision where we could not swim”.

“I think they would move it to a different site,” Wright said. “Duathlon is not triathlon. “[At most events] if water quality is bad, they change [to duathlon], but in a race of that magnitude, I am pretty sure they would have planned a secondary venue.

“I do not think the host nation would look too good [if swimming was removed].”