His breakthrough year came in 2002. After a good debut on grass at the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where he was twelfth in the junior category, he had his first major victory at the World Junior Championships, winning the gold medal in the steeplechase. He moved up to senior level the year after and a fourth-place finish in the short race at the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships saw him help Kenya to the team title. He then went on to make the Kenyan team in the steeplechase, although he fell in the heats at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics and was eliminated in the first stage. He did not perform well in 2004, missing spots on the Kenyan teams and suffering from a tendon injury. He set a personal best of 8:10.66 minutes at the 2005 Golden Gala meeting and was third in the Kenyan trials, but was dropped from the international squad in favour of the in-form Paul Kipsiele Koech.