Olaf Scholz comes down running, cancels several meetings

The government said the 65-year-old German leader had “a small sports accident” and cancelled meetings Sunday in the central region of Hesse, where state elections are held in October.

Hesse-based Frankfurter Rundschau reported initially on Saturday's incident. He mentioned a prominent lawmaker with Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats Michael Roth, who had invited the Chancellor to his hometown of Heringen and had planned a discussion event with him there on Sunday.

Scholz leads Germany since December 2021. He has previously served as finance and labour minister and mayor of Hamburg.

In a profile on his party's website, Scholz says he hated sports while at school, but won a taste for it from his wife, Britta Ernst. “Today I run as often as I can”, he says.

Scholz says he tries to find time for running, driving or walking two or three times a week and also enjoys cycling.