French web hosting company OVH won Romain Mesnil’s eBay item #320355212000, and became the official sponsor of the French pole vaulter for the 2009 season. Return on investment is almost guaranteed, since the athlete already won competitions in Herouville and Prague wearing his brand new OVH singlet.

OVH also released a new web commercial featuring Mesnil still running naked from Paris to Lille — several hundred miles north! — where the company is based. At 00:48, you’ll see that the actual staff looks athletic enough. And if you absolutely need to know, the ‘PO1L’ virus is a somewhat lame attempt at pandemic-based humor — in French, “à poil” means naked. The best caps and more are in the gallery below.

Romain Mesnil