AfD Surge and Kenyan Glory at the Berlin Marathon
Big developments have been coming out of Germany this weekend. On one hand, politics has been shaken up with a dramatic new poll, while on the other, the sporting world has been celebrating another iconic Berlin Marathon. Let me walk you through it all.
According to a fresh opinion poll, the far-right Alternative for Germany party, better known as the AfD, has just reached its highest level of support ever. If federal elections were held today, the AfD would actually come out on top with 26% of the vote. That’s one percentage point higher than the conservatives of the CDU/CSU bloc, who sit at 25%. For context, the Social Democrats, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition partners, are trailing behind at 15%. Meanwhile, the Greens and the Left Party both stand at around 11%, and smaller groups like the Free Democrats wouldn’t even make it into parliament.
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This rise is remarkable, but it’s also controversial. The AfD has already been classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as a “confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor.” Despite being the second-largest party in parliament after the last election, no other major party has been willing to enter into coalition talks with them. The new polling numbers will spark more debate about how mainstream German politics will respond to this growing surge in support.
At the same time, in the city of Frankfurt an der Oder, a mayoral election is under way, and an AfD candidate is considered one of the frontrunners. If successful, it would mark the first time the party has won such a position, which many see as another sign of shifting political winds in parts of eastern Germany.
But politics wasn’t the only thing capturing attention this weekend. Over in Berlin, tens of thousands of runners filled the streets for the 51st Berlin Marathon, and the headlines were dominated by Kenya’s stunning double triumph. In the men’s race, Sabastian Sawe stormed to victory with a time of 2:02:15. This comes just five months after he won the London Marathon, cementing his place among the sport’s top names. On the women’s side, Rosemary Wanjiru took first place with a time of 2:21:05. Both performances were well outside the world record pace, but conditions were unusually humid in the German capital, and the heat clearly slowed down the field.
Still, the atmosphere in Berlin was electric. More than 55,000 runners participated, weaving through iconic streets and landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate, cheered on by hundreds of thousands of spectators. Former football stars André Schürrle and Felix Kroos even joined in.
So, while Germany digests the implications of a far-right party leading the polls, it is also celebrating the remarkable achievements of Kenyan athletes on one of the biggest marathon stages in the world. It has been a weekend where politics and sport have both pushed big stories onto the front page, each showing different sides of the changes and passions that shape life in Germany today.
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