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 Fresh from his victory in the 10,000m final, where he also overcame
a stumble on the last-lap, Farah just managed to stay on his feet
after being clipped by another runner.
The Briton nearly tumbled over but recovered to qualify second
fastest overall, just behind Ethiopia's junior world champion Yomif
Kejelcha.
The 18-year-old Kejelcha crossed the line first in 13 minutes 19.38
seconds, with a relieved Farah just 0.06 in arrears.
"I tripped, somebody nearly took me down, just caught my leg," Farah
said in a trackside interview at the Bird's Nest stadium.
"It happens, I have such a long stride, so often people catch my
leg."
Farah, 32, won the 5,000m at the last two world championships and is
bidding to become the first man to win the event three times.
He is also striving to repeat his 5,000m-10,000m double from the
last world championships and the 2012 London Olympics but is taking
nothing for granted.
"That was good to get the heats out of the way, it was
nerve-wracking," Farah said.
"Sometimes you're expected to get to the final but it doesn't quite
happen so it's important that you take care of the rounds and get
ready for the final."
Kenya's Eunice Sum, the defending champion in the women's 800m,
easily won her heat to advance to the semi-finals of the two-lap
event.
Sum won her heat in 1:59.67, the fifth best time overall, with
Maryna Arzamasova of Belarus topping the qualifying in 1:58.69, just
ahead of Britain's Lynsey Sharp and South Africa's Caster Semenya,
the 2009 world champion.
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American David Oliver, another defending world champion, set the
quickest time in the heats of the men's 110m hurdles, stopping the
clock at 13.15.
He was just 0.10 ahead of his countryman Aries Merritt, the 2012
Olympic champion and world record holder.
In the men's triple jump, Cuba's Pedro Pablo Pichardo qualified
first ahead of American Christian Taylor, the reigning Olympic
champion.
Pichardo won the silver medal at the last world championships and
topped the qualifiers with a leap of 17.43m, with Taylor second
overall with 17.28.
Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk, one of the biggest favorites to win gold
in Beijing, topped the qualifiers for the women's hammer throw.
Less than four weeks after breaking her own world record, Wlodarczyk
easily qualified for the final with a throw of 75.01m, well inside
her best, as she looks to regain the world title she won in 2009.
(Writing by Julian Linden in Singapore; Editing by John O'Brien)
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