"technically" usually means something like "strictly", not "by a completely different metric". work takes time. zig has had a decade of work put into it.
The strict definition being we don't count developments that happened before version 1.
Like when we talk about Rust, we don't mention the virtual threads or GC or the @ symbol for GC references. Even though those all happened during its development.
also, nitpick: they said zig has been around for ten years. this is, strictly, correct. the zig project has existed for ten years, just like how rust has existed for about 20, now. a project still exists if it is pre-1.0. nobody was talking about versions before you.