Deryzemlya jubilant after Schalke win

"It wasn't planned, but we gave our all to win", said a jubilant Oksana Khvostenko and Andriy Deryzemlya after securing victory in the 2008 VELTINS Biathlon World Team Challenge.

The two Ukrainians came in ahead of German/Austrian pairing Martina Beck and Christoph Sumann and previous year's winners Ekaterina Iourieva and Dimitri Iarochenko. "To be honest, I was expecting a very good result today because Oksana is an outstanding shot and she's on top form at the moment", continued Deryzemlya, placing the emphasis on his partner's sporting talent. "Our success will make the headlines at home because biathlon is the number one winter sport in Ukraine", added Khvostenko. "Loads of young people are taking up the sport there."

Martina Beck was nearly as happy as the winners after the race. "I was delighted when I heard I was starting with Christoph. It would have been a great pity if I hadn't been able to take part", said Beck, who won the WTC in 2002. "I realised right away that Christoph was very motivated and today's event had an extremely high standard. The shooting has never been so good."

Partner Christoph Sumann now has a new ambition: "I'm looking for an Austrian girl who I can compete with here on this level next year. For me it really was a belated Christmas present because I've always dreamed of competing in Schalke", he admitted with a laugh. "I hadn't expected the atmosphere at the VELTINS Arena to be so good. I was very impressed and I'd love to take part again next year."

The atmosphere during the event was indeed superb, and the mood at the post-race party will have been even better. At the press conference the victorious Ukrainian pairing were already looking forward to the celebrations and had plenty in mind. "Obviously I don't know if we'll last as long as the Russians did last year, but we're really going to party this evening", a grinning Deryzemlya proclaimed.