Nurmela, who started for the Ounasvaaran Hiihtoseura club, achieved his first success at the 1994 Junior World Championships in Breitenwang . In the Gundersen singles he won the bronze medal there. Shortly after the Junior World Championships, he started in the Nordic Combined World Cup and the B World Cup. In both series he won points in the first races. In the World Cup he finished the 1993/94 season with 77 points in 47th place in the overall World Cup ranking. At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer he reached 25th place in the individual and was eighth in the team competition with Jari Mantila and Topi Sarparanta . In the following season he was again active in both World Cup series and reached two places on the podium in the B World Cup. In the World Cup, he finished 44th overall. The 1995/96 season was his most successful in the World Cup. Although he again missed top 3 placements, in the end he reached 15th place in the overall ranking. At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim in 1997 , he won the silver medal in the team competition with his teammates Jari Mantila, Samppa Lajunen and Hannu Manninen . The team repeated this success at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano . A year later at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Ramsau am Dachstein in 1999 , he was able to win the gold medal in the same line-up as the team. In the individual sprint he reached 12th place and in Gundersen 18th place. After the World Cup, Nurmela ended his active career. At the end he finished 26th in the overall World Cup ranking.
Finland
