Born in Drachten, his family was interested in athletics and he joined Impala, a local club, and began working with coach Hans-Jörg Thomaskamp. He set a national junior record for the high jump in 2010 and competed at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics. His first senior national titles followed in 2011 and 2012, when he won both indoors and outdoors titles. Having reached the peak of senior national athletics, he remained in the age category competitions internationally, jumping at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships and then the 2013 European Athletics U23 Championships, winning the gold medal at the latter with a personal best jump of .