Born in Lyon, Darien made his first international appearances as a junior, finishing in seventh at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics and becoming the 110 m hurdles champion at the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships. He set a personal best of 13.73 seconds that year, but competed infrequently over the following two years. He returned to action in 2008 and improved his best to 13.50 seconds.