The Estonian had put in a time of 48.62 seconds in Monday's heats, where he finished third in his race.

He improved on that time to 48.16 seconds Wednesday night, and he has now made his third consecutive olympic final in the 400 meter hurdles.

This was despite preparation which did not go as well as hoped.

"Today's sleep wasn't the best," he said, after the race.

"My smart ring showed that I had gotten only 46 minutes of deep sleep. I'd like to get a bit more today, and definitely assess the condition of my muscles. I need to disconnect from running thoughts for a moment. I'll probably meet my family briefly tomorrow, and then start prepping for the final."

As for Wednesday evening, he said: "On crossing the finish line, the first emotion was definitely relief, but then it dawned on me that I have to run one more time, and that's not an easy task."

"On the other hand, I have nothing to lose. Running in the Olympic finals over eight years... It's a proud feeling! It makes me a bit humble," Mägi went on, talking to ERR.

"The first hurdle didn't go particularly well," he recalled.

" I knocked it down with a crash. The main task was not to knock myself out of the race at the start, and to try to stay in the pack as long as possible, then run to the finish on my instincts. In that sense, this race was harder, because it was already difficult to take hurdles after 200 meters, while I made a rhythm change after the seventh hurdle, which wasn't planned. That left me with a good reserve at the final meters, which helped me tilt the race in my favor," Mägi outlined the course of the race.

The Estonian finished second in his semi, just a hundredth of a second behind last year's World Championship silver medalist, Kyron McMaster, and was the sixth-fastest overall

Norwegian Karsten Warholm (47.67), reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, was quickest.

The race itself was notable for Mägi in that, after the poor start he mentioned above, he was near the back of the field through much of the middle portion of the race, only finding the strength to pull ahead going into the final bend and last hurdle, racing to second right at the last instant.

The men's 400 meter hurdles final is on Friday, August 9, at 10.45 p.m. Estonian time.

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