Australia has reached another final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Kate Miller-Heidke and her song ‘Zero Gravity’ made it to the final, where we will surprisingly see the absence of Papai Joci from Hungary.
These are the ten qualifiers of the night:
The following ten countries have qualified for the Grand Final (in order of announcement):
- Greece – Katerine Duska with Better Love
- Belarus – ZENA with Like It
- Serbia – Nevene Božović with Kruna
- Cyprus – Tamta with Replay
- Estonia – Victor Crone with Storm
- Czech Republic – Lake Malawi with Friend Of A Friend
- Australia – Kate Miller-Heidke with Zero Gravity
- Iceland – Hatari with Hatrið mun sigra
- San Marino – Serhat with Say Na Na Na
- Slovenia – Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl with Sebi
Seven countries – Montenegro, Finland, Poland, Hungary, Belgium, Georgia, Portugal – didn’t make it through from the first semi final.
Draws for the grand final
After the press conference for the qualifiers, the artists got their allocation for the Grand Final on Saturday. Five were placed in the first half (slot 1-13) and five got a spot in the second half (starting position 15-26). The actual running order will be decided by the KAN and EBU production team, after the results of the second semi final on Thursday are in.
This is what we know so far:
First half, 1-13: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, San Marino, Slovenia
Starting slot 14: Israel
Second half, 15-26: Australia, Belarus, Estonia, France, Iceland, Italy, Serbia, Spain, United Kingdom
Which means that for the qualifiers on Thursday, there are three starting positions in the second half left, while the others will perform in the first half of the show.
Surprise exit for Hungary
After being a qualifier in every year they took part since 2011, the absence of Hungary is the biggest surprise of the night. Papai Joci, top-10 finisher back in 2017, was not among the ten best scoring acts of the combined result of jury and televote. Belgium and Polan are missing out on their show on Saturday for the second year in a row.
On the other hand, there is great joy for Iceland, who we have not seen in the final a couple of years now, the last time being in 2014 with Pollapönk. Other countries that qualified, but did not in 2018, are Belarus, Greece and San Marino.
Together with Estonia, which had a vocally weak performance by Victor Crone, the second qualification in history of San Marino was – for many – the biggest shock qualification of the evening.