Layla Sharp

A versatile athlete making her mark on the world stage, Layla Sharp, 18, has emerged as a name to watch on the Para-athletics scene.
Layla Sharp a proud Biripi and Darug woman, was one of five Indigenous teenagers who representing Australia at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi. On her Australian team debut, she competed in the T38 200m and 400m, progressing to the final in the later event.
Pivoting to a new event to pursue Glasgow Commonwealth Games selection during an impressive 2025/26 domestic season, Layla broke the Australian T38 long jump record with a leap of 4.86m. The mark also equalled the Australian allcomers record, set by Welsh athlete Olivia Breen at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In May, Layla was named in the long jump for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Sharp already knows the kind of legacy she hopes to leave as well as the person she wants to be, inspired by Olympic 400m champion and Australian icon Catherine Freeman.

“Cathy has been my idol for ages. I’ve watched her 2000 race so many times and it’s so inspiring. The way that she built up to where she became and all of that, and how she uses her voice for younger Indigenous generations is so important,” Sharp said.

“Her Sydney 400m was and is phenomenal to have done it in her own country, it was a turning point for athletics as a sport and definitely has shaped it into what it is today.”

Competing with cerebral palsy, Sharp has competed over a range of distances but has narrowed her focus to the Paralympic pathway in a bid to fulfil her dream of making to the biggest stage, fuelled by bettering herself every day.

“I always want to be bettering myself as a person and as an athlete. Athletics is a sport that at times can be demanding physically but you also have the rewards of having good fitness and good health whilst competing in a sport you love,” Sharp said.

“That’s one of the biggest parts of it for me and as well as dropping my times whether it’s in training reps or on the track on race day inspires me to keep pushing in training when it gets hard.”

The dream of a home 2032 Paralympic Games is well and truly alive for Sharp who would be just 25-years-old, hoping to replicate the heroes of her childhood in Brisbane:

“It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that hardly anyone gets to experience, especially on home soil.”