[8][9] He ran an Azerbaijani indoor record in the 3000 metres at the BW-Bank Meeting in February 2011, setting a time of 7:42.54 minutes.

[10] On 5 March 2011, he won silver in the 3000 metres at the European Indoor Championships, narrowly losing to Mo Farah.

[11][12] He was the favourite entering the 5000 m at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships, but failed to finish the event due to an injury that ruled him out for most of the season.

At September's Palio Citta della Quercia he ran a meet record and Azerbaijani best of 13:11.34 minutes for the 5000 m.[13] He also came eighth in the under-23 section of the 2012 European Cross Country Championships that year.

At the start of 2013 he improved his indoor national record three times, culminating in a run of 7:39.59 minutes at the XL Galan.