Sulo Nurmela (13 February 1908 – 13 August 1999) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

cross-country skier. He won a gold medal at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

in the 4 × 10 km relay and served as the Finnish flag bearer at those games. Nurmela won two world titles in 1934: in the individual 18 km and 4 × 10 km relay events. While traveling to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

to the next world championships he became ill with a high fever and had to withdraw from his individual races. Yet he felt obliged to compete in the relay, as Finland sent only four skiers, and there was no substitute. His first three teammates gained a two-minute lead, and Nurmela managed to finish more than a minute ahead of the competitors and win his third world title. Nurmela won three races in the Lahti Ski Games: 17 km in 1934 and 1937 and 50 km in 1937. He retired after placing eighth over 50 km at the 1938 World Championships. He worked as a farmer most of his life.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 1 medal – (1 gold)

World Championships

* 3 medals – (3 gold)

References

External links

* * 1908 births 1999 deaths People from Miehikkälä People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish male cross-country skiers Cross-country skiers at the 1936 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Finland Sportspeople from Kymenlaakso 20th-century Finnish people {{Finland-XC-skiing-bio-stub