He was the 2007 winner of the Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños in Spain, and Tola went on to finish seventh at the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa. He was Ethiopia's best finisher in the competition, in which reigning champion Kenenisa Bekele dropped out from exhaustion. A week after the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, he won the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run in Washington DC. On track, he won the silver at the 2007 All-Africa Games in the 10,000 m in July, but only managed 13th in the final at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. He had much success on the American road circuit in 2008, winning the Falmouth Road Race and then going to take first place in the 2008 New York City Half Marathon with a time of 1:00:58. He closed the year with a win at the San Silvestre Vallecana in Spain.