Mägi's time of 48.70s was enough to go through from the heats which took place Friday morning, Tokyo time.

The first four finishers in each of the five heats, and then the next four fastest across all the heats go through to the semis; Mägi's time was seventh fastest overall.

In his own heat, Mägi, 29, was second behind Benjamin Rai (U.S.), who put in 48.60s.

Mägi told the press pack after his heat about the importance of conserving himself for the semis.

"While you can't get to the semi-finals by being too lax, on the other hand, you need to retain a bit of that looseness, while stepping up your activity. You can be a little more active and attack more in the semi-finals, then things will be fine," he said.

Mägi said that the fact that one of his legs was taped-up was no cause for concern and was just a precautionary measure.

"Inevitably, this leg bears more of the brunt over the hurdles. I can run with tape, I can run without it, nothing gets twisted anywhere," Mägi went on.

The semi-finals take place Sunday afternoon, starting 3.05 p.m. Estonian time.

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