St. Paul sprinter Emmanuel Matadi wanted to leave these Olympic games — his third — feeling like he left it all on the table and performed to the best of his abilities.

He wasn’t thrilled with either of his first two appearances, the first due to a lack of inexperience, the second because of a hip injury. He didn’t reach the semifinals any event in either trip.

That box has now been checked.

The 2009 St. Paul Johnson grad ran his first round race in the 100 meters in 10.08 seconds on Saturday morning to move into Sunday’s semifinals.

The semis in the event to determine the world’s fastest man are set for 1:05 p.m. CT, with the finals slated for 2:50 p.m. that same day.

There are three semifinals in the event, with the top two finishers from each semi advancing to the final, along with the next two fastest times from the remaining competitors.

Matadi — who entered the Olympics as the No. 15 ranked 100-meter sprinter in the world — advanced to the semis via his time in the first-round. There were eight first-round races, with the top three finishers from each race automatically qualifying and only the next three fastest times also getting through.

The 33-year-old running for Liberia finished fourth in his heat — easily the fastest heat of the day. But his time was fastest among non-automatic qualifiers to push him through to the next round.

In the Minnesota State-Mankato product’s semifinal are four runners ranked ahead of him in the world rankings, as well as Rice Lake High School product Kenneth Bednarek. Six of the nine runners have season-best times of 9.92 seconds or better, including Matadi, who ran a 9.91 last month.