Career
He started competing at the top level in 2008, winning competitions in Italy (cross and road races) and working under two Italian coaches, Renato Canova and Gabriele Nicola. In 2009, an injury prevented him from competing for six 6 months, but he resolved the problem by working in the gym, together with a limited amount of running. He also improved his running posture and began the 2010 season with a view to competing in a marathon in spring.
His victory over the distance at the Kenyan Championships was unexpected, and his time (27:2693) bettered the world best performance at altitude by almost 18 seconds.
After a victory in Lille Half Marathon in September with his best time of 59:34, he focused his preparation towards the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Nanning. The following year he was selected for the 10,000 m at the 2011 World Championships, but had to withdraw due to injury.
He returned to action in November, winning at the Tuskys Wareng Cross Country. He closed the year with an appearance at the BOClassic 10K and he narrowly finished second to Edwin Soi.
Despite being the pre-race favourite for the Berlin Half Marathon, he was beaten into second place by the lesser-known Denis Koech, although he ran a personal best time of 59:15 minutes.
He secured his first place on the Kenyan Olympic team at the 2012 Prefontaine Classic, winning the 10,000 m trial race with a personal best of 27:01.98 minutes. Despite this strong performance, he failed to finish the distance when it came to the 2012 Olympic 10,000 metres final. He had a poor showing at the Hamburg Marathon, coming fifteenth in 2:19:20 hours, then failed to finish at the Kenyan 10,000 m trials.
He failed to finish the 10,000 m Kenyan Trials and missed the 2013 World Championships in Athletics as a result.
He was in the top three at the Giro al Sas, BOclassic and Delhi Half Marathon that year.