His international debut came as a junior in cross country running. He was 64th at the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and 21st at the 2008 European Cross Country Championships, sharing the team junior title at the latter event with Florian Carvalho and Hassan Chahdi. He managed only 88th at the 2009 World event but finished eighth in the 5000 metres at the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships. Moving up the age categories, he was a 5000 m finalist at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships and placed seventh at the 2011 European Cross Country Championships, getting the under-23 team bronze with Carvalho. He also set a 1500 m best of 3:38.70 minutes that year.