TCS NYC MARATHON

November 1, 2026

Zouhair Talbi

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: I'll welcome our first top male finisher today. In his first finish at the New York City Marathon, finishing sixth with a time of 2:06:43, let's welcome Zouhair Talbi.

You came here a couple years ago and didn't make it to the finish. Today you come through, finished sixth place, 2:06:43, fastest American ever here. Tell us about your New York City experience, especially those last couple miles, because I know you were working really hard there when you got back into Central Park.

ZOUHAIR TALBI: Just when it was close to 20 miles, that's when three years ago I hit the wall for the first time and didn't make it to the finish. Today when we were getting closer to 20 miles, I was like, whoa, is this going to happen again? (Laughter).

As soon as I passed that stage, I knew it was definitely different circumstances. Yeah, today was definitely a tough race because the pace was not even from the start. We were going fast and slowed down then going fast again. When you see we're like a pack of 20 or more, that gives me -- yeah, you just don't know what's going to happen.

Yeah, I was just waiting for the right moment when they take the last move, and I was able to move with them. I did not feel really as fresh as I hoped to, but yeah, tried my best today and came with sixth place. Happy with that.

THE MODERATOR: We did see you go to the front a couple of times. Were you trying to inject a little pace into the race, and was it frustrating to have them just match every move you tried to make?

ZOUHAIR TALBI: So my thought process was like I might do a move and someone will follow me or two, and we'll be like, okay, we're going to exchange the lead and we're going to make it as a fast pace.

But I had no intention to just go by myself the whole race, but I just wanted to shake it up a little bit and see if some other people will take it fast because coming to this race, I knew I had more advantage if the race go fast. That's what I trained for.

I knew if I came to the last few miles, I knew Almgren, who won today -- no surprise -- I knew he's going to put big surges and try to win the race. Also, Crippa is a 10K runner and is still running 10K, so I knew he's fast. I was hoping to not get this scenario by the end.

I think if the race went differently, we might have different result, but I'm just proud that I was able to put in the fight with them and tried my best and, yeah, came sixth place.

Q. Zouhair, do you regret making those surges in the middle of the race given that you were so close to getting that top five, which would have been the Olympic standard?

ZOUHAIR TALBI: I did not regret that because I knew they're going to do the same thing as well, they're going to try to follow. So it will make everyone surge.

I knew I was doing a lot of surges during training, so I knew I will be able to handle those surges, but I tried to like get someone with me to try to make it a fast race and not leave it to the last three miles. So that's my hope by doing that, but I think that didn't happen.

It's okay, you have to try somehow and see what's going to happen.

Q. So you said you weren't feeling as fresh as you'd like to feel. Do you know what that was? You said your legs weren't feeling as fresh as you wish they would have felt. Do you know why, or is it just a feeling for today?

ZOUHAIR TALBI: I really didn't catch the first part.

THE MODERATOR: You mentioned your legs didn't feel as fresh as you would want today. Do you know why that is?

ZOUHAIR TALBI: By 30K, I just felt flat for some reason. I didn't feel the pop that I wished, maybe because of the hills, going up-and-down, but that was a different feeling than I had, for example, in Boston early on. By 30K I felt a lot more stronger. But this time I felt like just surviving basically.

When the move happened in the last three miles, I did not seek the move as fresh as I wanted to, so I was already tired going with them, and I was just hanging in there the whole time. So I was not in control.

Q. When I was watching you on the TV screen, the last couple miles you looked pretty darn uncomfortable and you were really digging. What do you tell yourself when you get into a situation in a race like that where it's really, really difficult?

ZOUHAIR TALBI: Man, when that surge happened, I was like they're going to -- I'm like hoping, okay, they will take it, but they might slow down a little bit. At the end, I was like it's just pain, it's just pain. I was just repeating that in my head. I was like, yeah, this is your moment. You cannot do something big without taking chances.

While I'm doing that, I'm like there is no other way. You've got to be here and you've got to push. I feel like I just talked to myself different ways, yeah.

Q. What did you -- I know this is very early after the race, but are there any lessons that you're going to take away from the marathon this year?

ZOUHAIR TALBI: Coming up to this race, my goal was I want to be with the top guys as far as possible. This is the first time in a major marathon that I'm like in the last two miles I was having a chance to win the race.

I think I'm closing the gap. I knew I'm not like training as high as some guys are doing right now, so I have potential of growth in there. I'm going to go back and train more, get faster. As you know, fast guys have more chance to win the race, like what happened today. I felt like I might hop in a 10K, for example, and try to improve my time. Yeah, just try a different route to get faster in the marathon.

THE MODERATOR: Zouhair, congratulations on a great run today. Thank you.