Talbi passes Mantz at No. 1 in 2028 Trials rankings
Chris Chavez and Rory Linkletter split on the top spot, and LetsRun ran its own list of 24 men.
CITIUS MAG has updated its 2028 US Olympic Marathon Trials power rankings for the top 15 American men, and Zouhair Talbi is now No. 1. CITIUS MAG credits a year that included a win in Houston and top American honors in both Boston and New York.
Clayton Young moves up to No. 2 off his 2:05:23 in Chicago. Conner Mantz, the American record holder, slides to No. 3 after what CITIUS MAG calls an injury-disrupted season. Mantz finished 11th in New York in 2:07:27.
The argument over the top spot
The rankings came out of a crossover episode with Rory Linkletter of the Out & Back Podcast, and the two did not agree. Chris Chavez posted both cases. Linkletter stuck with Mantz, saying he rates Mantz's 2025 ahead of Talbi's 2026 and is not letting recency bias sway him. Chavez went with Talbi, pointing to the double top American finish and the head to head win over Mantz in New York, plus Young's Chicago run.
Who else moved
Galen Rupp is back in the conversation after running 2:06:55 in Chicago at 40 years old. Vincent Mauri, Ahmed Muhumed and Aidan Troutner are listed among the newcomers shaking up the top 15. CITIUS MAG says the fall marathon season delivered big shakeups and that the race for three spots looks more competitive than ever.
LetsRun ran its own version the same week, framed around 500 days until the Trials in St. Louis and ranking the 24 men on its sub-2:10 list. LetsRun notes Talbi has run three sub-2:07 marathons in 2026 and that Mantz holds the American record, then debates who the favorite actually is.
What it actually means
Nothing here is selection. The Trials are still roughly 500 days out by LetsRun's count, three spots are on the line, and a power ranking is a podcast argument with numbers attached. Talbi's 2026 is the best resume in the field right now on consistency, Mantz still owns the American record, and Young's 2:05:23 is the fastest single mark in the discussion. CITIUS MAG put it plainly about the difficulty of the whole exercise, saying they had a hard enough time agreeing on 15.
I only lean Conner because I think Conner’s 2025 campaign is better than Zouhair’s 2026, and I’m not letting recency bias cloud me.
We had a hard enough time agreeing on 15. Good luck picking three.
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