STA, 19 May 2019 - The Slovenian duo Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl have won 13th place at the Eurovision song contest, the best result for the country since Maja Keuc in 2011.
Their downtempo song Sebi (To Yourself) collected a combined 105 points from spectators and juries to finish in the middle of the 26-strong field.
The Netherlands secured their first win after 1975 with Duncan Laurence's Arcade. Italy finished second and Russia was third.
The Slovenian entrants said that they were overjoyed with the result - they were projected to finish around 20th place - but most importantly, that they managed to bring their music close to the people.
"We're glad and proud about the performance and the rehearsals, but we also learned a lot about other things. We're looking forward to coming home, but this was one of the best experiences in out lives," Kralj said.
The real-life couple stood out in the crowded field with a static, minimalist performance. Dressed in all-white, they simply stood opposite each other for a starry-eyed-lovers routine that earned them praise as well as ridicule.
But they stayed true to their form until the end. They wrapped up their Tel Aviv trip with an Instagram post with a picture of Gašper carrying Zala on his back on a sandy beach captioned "Thank you very much for this experience, we are going home to cuddle now."
