Britain's Tim Benjamin was full of confidence after cruising into the 400metres semi-finals at the World Championships.

Benjamin broke the 45-second barrier for only the second time in his career to record the fastest time from all seven heats in Helsinki.

The 23-year-old from Cardiff set a personal best of 44.75 seconds as he defeated Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner at the London Grand Prix in July, and clocked 44.85secs in windy conditions today.

"I'm really pleased," said Benjamin, who spent most of March in hospital after a pain-killing injection in his back went wrong.

"I feel in the shape of my life and I want to maximise it. I'm supremely confident at the moment and I'm just looking forward to the next couple of days."

Team-mate Robert Tobin also advanced to Wednesday's semi-finals, the European under-23 champion finishing second behind Wariner in his heat in a time of 45.41.

"It was good," said the 21-year-old. "I don't know what's going to happen but my training has been going really well and I've been running personal bests in the week.

"Hopefully I'll get my start right. I ran an awful first 100m and will have to go out harder in the next round." Malachi Davis failed to qualify however, the American-born 27-year-old finishing third in his heat in 46.14, not enough to qualify as a fastest loser.