With many of Ethiopia's main runners absent, he gained a place on the men's senior team for the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships with a runner-up performance at the Jan Meda Cross Country. He finished the race in 24th position and, as the fifth finisher among the Ethiopians, his score did not count towards the team competition. He took to the European road circuit in August, winning the Omloop race in Hem with a 10K best of 28:11 minutes. In September, he was third at the 10K race held at the Tilburg Ten Miles and took third again at the Dam tot Damloop. He secured victory at the Egmond Half Marathon with half a minute to spare at the start of 2011, recording a time of 1:02:23 for his debut over the distance. He improved upon this soon after at the City-Pier-City Loop, where he recorded 59:42 minutes for fourth in a tightly contested race.