He won his first track medal at the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships, where he was the runner-up in the 10,000 metres behind Turkey's Mert Girmalegesse, formerly of Ethiopia.

[2] He ran in the 10,000 m at the 2010 European Athletics Championships and was seventh in the final, while fellow Italian Daniele Meucci reached the podium.

He had a career best finish of sixth in the senior race at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships, although the Italian team was fourth at the event.

[5] At the Stramilano he came a close second to Yacob Jarso in a time of 1:01:11 hours – a personal best and the best performance by an Italian man at the event since 2002.

[6] He won the 2012 European Cross Country Championships title convincingly with a time of 30:01, 10 seconds ahead of the runner-up Hassan Chahdi from France.