Career
His breakthrough year came in 2004: he took the individual bronze medal and team gold in the short race at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and then went on to take the 5000 m title at the 2004 African Championships in Athletics. He set a half marathon best of 1:01:14 in late 2009 with a third-place finish behind Haile Gebrselassie at the Oporto Half Marathon. In 2010, he also took third at the Berlin Half Marathon, running 1:00:24 in wet conditions.
He finished in third place at the BIG 25 race (also in Berlin) in May that year, running a time of 1:13:16.
He made his marathon debut in October at the Frankfurt Marathon and he completed the race with a sub-2:10 run, securing sixth place in 2:09:03. He was also sixth at the Seoul International Marathon in March 2011, but was much slower (2:15:15) in that race.