2:06 Marathoner Zouhair Talbi Is Living The American Dream After Becoming A US Citizen By Enlisting in Army Reserve

On a cold January night in South Carolina, Zouhair Talbi gazed into the star-flecked sky and thought deeply about how he had come to be there. Earlier that day, he had loaded his pack with 50 pounds of equipment and marched — or “rucked,” in military parlance — 14 miles with his fellow US Army recruits into the wilderness. They had dug foxholes and laid out their sleeping sacks, which would keep them warm once the temperatures dropped below freezing that evening. But Talbi was not thinking about that 14-mile ruck so much as the longer journey that had brought him from North Africa to the Deep South.

Just seven months earlier, Talbi had been in Paris, where he finished 35th in the Olympic marathon for his native Morocco. Now he was at Fort Jackson in the midst of basic training, hoping to attain US citizenship by enlisting in the Army Reserve. As he looked skyward into the darkness that night, Talbi was struck by the feeling that he was meant to do something big in running. And he wanted to do it while representing the US.

“That’s a moment where you can think solely about your future,” Talbi said. “…I thought about what I really want and how much I’m willing to push for that…I want to be the best here in America. Maybe the best in the world. Maybe it’s a big statement.”

Photo courtesy Zouhair Talbi

Later that month, Talbi was sworn in as a citizen, and on May 10 he made his US championship debut by finishing 4th at the USATF 25K Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich. Talbi, 30, immediately becomes one of America’s fastest marathoners. In his debut in Boston in 2023, he finished 5th, running 2:08:35 and beating Eliud Kipchoge by one spot (and Conner Mantz by six). Only four Americans have run faster than Talbi’s personal best of 2:06:39, which he set to win the 2024 Houston Marathon: Ryan Hall (2:06:17), Galen Rupp (2:06:07), Mantz (2:05:08 on the non-record-eligible Boston course), and American record holder Khalid Khannouchi (2:05:38), another Moroccan athlete who transferred allegiance midway through his career.

Talbi still needs his transfer of allegiance to be approved by World Athletics, and that could take a while; typically athletes must wait three years from the last time they represented their former country. Since Talbi just ran for Morocco at the Olympics, the earliest he could represent the US is August 2027. But that would still make Talbi eligible to compete at the 2028 US Olympic Marathon Trials, and in the meantime, he can enter USATF championships (as long as they are not selection events for international teams) and earn “top American” prize money at road races.

Talbi has an American wife, Elizabeth, whom he met while competing at Oklahoma City University, and in March she gave birth to a boy, Amir. Talbi feels he has real roots in the US now.

“When I came here as an immigrant, after a few years you feel like all your life or your identity starts being here, like you belong more here,” Talbi said. “You’re just thinking about, I have a son and he’s going to be growing up here. I just want my all life to be pretty much here…It felt natural for me.”

Tabi with wife Elizabeth and son Amir (Photo courtesy Zouhair Talbi)

Talbi had a path to US citizenship via his wife, but he did not apply for a green card when they got married in June 2022 (he was still a student at that point and had been planning on staying in the US on a P1 visa for international-level athletes). Obtaining a green card takes roughly a year for spouses of citizens, and even once he had it, Talbi would have had to wait another three years to apply for citizenship. By enlisting in the Army Reserve, Talbi received his citizenship much faster and also received a lot of benefits important to his growing family, including health insurance and loan assistance for buying a house.

“For me as a foreigner here in America, I was lacking a lot of help when it comes to health insurance, other benefits,” Talbi said. “The Army provides you with a lot of things.”

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Looking ahead to a new Olympic cycle with the American Distance Project

Photo courtesy Zouhair Talbi

Talbi, now 30, took a while to get settled in the United States after arriving at age 23 in 2019. He was meant to enroll at Florida State University, but his admission was rescinded when FSU realized several of his academic documents had been falsified by a placement service (Talbi denied any personal involvement). Instead, he spent a year at Northwest Kansas Technical College (now Fort Hays Tech Northwest), followed by two at Oklahoma City University, an NAIA school from which he graduated in December 2022.

Talbi moved to Colorado Springs in August 2023 to train under coach Scott Simmons as part of the American Distance Project, and he is planning to make the city his home for the foreseeable future. A logistics specialist, he must spend one weekend a month serving in the Army Reserve as well as two weeks of training per year. But because he is in the Reserve rather than active duty, Talbi is allowed to keep his endorsement contract with Asics (Army athletes in the World Class Athlete Program cannot have shoe contracts).

Talbi said he still has affinity for Morocco and may still return occasionally to train, but he enjoys his life in Colorado Springs and feels he has a good set of training partners in fellow Olympians Shadrack Kipchirchir, Hillary Bor, and Leonard Korir, all of whom are also focused on the marathon.

While making it to the Olympics last summer represented the fulfillment of a lifelong goal, Talbi was not pleased with his performance; two weeks before the Games, Talbi began to feel burned out, and even easy runs felt like a struggle. He bounced back to run 2:07:17 at the Yellow River Estuary Marathon in China in October, but after that, Talbi took a lengthy break from racing.

Talbi pacing Americans Conner Mantz and Galen Rupp at the 2023 Chicago Marathon (Kevin Morris photo)

Talbi did his best to keep running in the winter, but the demands of basic training meant he maxed out around 40 miles per week in a good week. This spring, he’s gradually ramping back into shape. His 4th-place finish at the 25k champs came just three weeks after he had finished Advanced Individual Training in logistics at Fort Gregg-Adams in Virginia, and he was pleased with the result. Moving forward, he has much bigger goals, starting with a strong marathon this fall.

“I felt like this is a good point to start with, being not far, far back,” Talbi. “[Now] I’m fully ready to train…For the next few years, I want to run some fast times, I want to challenge people, good runners here in America, because there are so many. I want to be that person who can challenge them and try to win.”

For more on Talbi, check out this Alex Geula profile on him from 2023: LRC From NAIA to Beating Kipchoge: The Zouhair Talbi Story

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