 He won his first medal the following year at the 2002 European Athletics Indoor Championships, taking the bronze medal over 3000 m. Outdoors, he came eleventh in the 5000 m at the 2002 European Athletics Championships.He came close to another medal indoors at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships, finishing a fraction of a second behind the bronze medallist Luke Kipkosgei.In 2005 he won the 3000 m gold medal at the 2005 European Cup and went on to compete at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, where he was disqualified in the heats.