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Overview
- President Emmanuel Macron hosted a ceremony at the Élysée to award national honors to Olympic and Paralympic medalists from the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina.
- France finished the Winter Olympics with 23 medals, including eight golds, with biathlon delivering 13 of those podiums and driving the nation’s surge.
- Biathlete Quentin Fillon‑Maillet was promoted to officier of the Légion d'honneur by decree published in the official journal, though he did not attend the ceremony.
- Honors also went to ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron in the Ordre national du Mérite, partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry and several biathletes including Julia Simon and Émilien Jacquelin as chevaliers, ski mountaineers Thibault Anselmet and Emily Harrop as chevaliers, and Paralympian Cécile Hernandez as a commandeur.
- The Légion d'honneur and the Ordre national du Mérite are France’s highest state orders that recognize service and achievement, and such promotions are formalized through presidential decrees.