Three-time and reigning World figure skating champion Ilia Malinin received the Milano Cortina 2026 Fair Play Award in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the weekend.

Malinin was honored at the Olympic Museum alongside five other athletes during the 60th International Olympic Committee's World Fair Play Awards ceremony.

The Milano Cortina 2026 Fair Play Award is selected through a combined jury and public vote.

Malinin received the award for the exemplary character he displayed during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Following a difficult men's individual competition in which he fell from first position to eighth, Malinin put aside his own disappointment to warmly congratulate and celebrate Olympic champion Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan.

The spontaneous moment demonstrated respect for another athlete's achievement, even amid profound personal disappointment — a powerful expression of the Olympic spirit and the values of fair play.

"I was looking back at the performance [in the Olympic men's free skate], and it was probably one of the hardest moments of my life," Malinin said upon receiving the award. "But I also had to move on from it and really embrace the friend in me. I had to appreciate what my fellow competitor and friend had done. 
 
"You know, he won his very first Olympics. And it just made me so happy to see him achieve his dream and achieve his goals, so I wanted to be a good friend to support him and be there for him. That's what was going through my mind. It was not what happened out there. It was how can I bring back the positive and show the love to the world and to him." 

Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz, Croatian alpine skier Filip Zubcic, Canadian rugby player Asia Hogan-Rochester, Turkish volunteer and humanitarian Ufuk Timer and Belgian steeplechase athlete Tim Van de Velde were also recognized for their extraordinary sportsmanship.

"In an era shaped by algorithmic noise, hyper-competition and the relentless pressure to win at all costs, fair play has never been more relevant — especially for the next generation," Sunil Sabharwal, president of the International Fair Play Committee, said.

"Sixty years ago, Eugenio Monti set this tradition in motion by showing that respect for a rival can matter more than competitive advantage. The champions we honor today carry that same spirit forward. They remind us that true greatness is never measured by scoreboards alone, but by the courage to choose honesty, empathy, and respect when everything is on the line."