June 03, 2018 (Finland) – Finnish company, One Way Sport Oy, renowned for their bright yellow ski poles and sponsorships of top skiers such as Dario Cologna and Charlotte Kalla, filed for bankruptcy in March as reported by Taloussanomat, the largest business online daily newspaper based in Helsinki, Finland.

One Way, established in 2004 by German Andreas Bennert and headquartered in Vantaa, Finland, grew rapidly and added skis, boots, sunglasses and roller skis to their lineup, but the company was best known for their trademark ski poles.

One Way’s slick sticks were the brand of choice for many top cross-country skiers and biathletes around the world including top Finnish skiers, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Sami Jauhojärvi, and Matti Heikkinen along with legendary biathlete, Martin Fourcade from France. Until last year, the company also sponsored American cross-country skier Jesse Diggins, who recently won a gold medal in the team sprint with Kikkan Randall at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

At one time, the company was also an official supplier to the Canadian cross-country ski team, and ventured into cycling as well sponsoring WorldTour teams Katusha and AG2R La Mondiale.

Up until 2014, the company was apparently doing well with sales of $12 million Euros according to reports. But a drop in the value of the rouble in Russia, one of the company’s most important markets, combined with back-to-back subpar winters was too much for One Way to overcome.

As early as March, 2016, the company was facing insolvency and filed for reorganization in Espoo District Court in Finland. The process was initiated on June 16, 2016 and ended with the confirmation of a payment scheme on March 24, 2017 reported Taloussanomat. Despite the reorganization the Board of Directors could not cope with future obligations and filed for bankruptcy in March 2018 with debts near EUR 5.8 million.

The largest creditor is Nordea, a bank in Denmark, which is owed approximately EUR 2 million. Other creditors include a Finnish financing company Finnvera and a Chinese supplier Top One Ltd.

Patrol OY, the distribute for Fischer skis in Finland and once in a legal battle with One Way over colour combinations, purchased the trademark and intellectual rights of the bankrupt company reported Sweski.com. No word yet on the fate of One Way-sponsored athletes. The company has apparently not contacted any distributors regarding the situation.

“One Way’s global distribution is up in the air. I think they will distribute in Finland and maybe some neighbouring countries as well,” said an unnamed source. “I don’t think distributors have received any information. The office in Finland will be liquidated with a bankruptcy procedure as Patrol OY only purchased the assets of the brand.”