She was fourth in the event at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics and won the bronze medal at the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships a year after. Talay began competing in the senior ranks in 2009 and was a semi-finalist in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships. She dipped under 13 seconds for the 100 m hurdles for the first time in 2010 and ended the year having a personal best of 12.87 seconds. That year she was a semi-finalist at both the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2010 European Athletics Championships.