He rose to prominence in 1979 as a junior athlete. First he took the individual and team silver medals at the 1979 IAAF World Cross Country Championships junior race, then won the 5000 metres at the 1979 European Athletics Junior Championships – his winning time of 13:44.37 minutes remains the championship record as of 2014. He capped the season with a European junior record of 13:27.04 minutes in London.