Career
As a junior, Tyler was a gifted sportswoman, focussing on swimming at junior high school and later triathlons. She moved into criterium events while living in Florida and in 1988 made the move to velodrome events. In 1990 she trained and raced in Australia, initially living in New South Wales.
The pair were training at the Trexlertown Velodrome facility in Pennsylvania in 1991, when Canadian drug testers at the request of their Australian counterparts recorded a positive drug test for Martin Vinnicombe.
The following year she competed in the World championships in Colombia recording ninth place in the individual pursuit and 19th in the sprint. National coach Charlie Walsh convinced her to move to full-time track endurance events in December 1995.
An expected good result at the February 1996 national titles in Perth were derailed when she suffered a severe asthma attack during the points race. She was subsequently beaten by Kathy Watt in the 3000m individual pursuit.
Shortly after, Watt was given a guarantee that she would ride in the Atlanta Olympics, with a proviso that the selection would be reviewed if another Australian rider posted a world-class time in the lead-up.
Tyler-Sharman obliged during training in Germany by improving on Watts" 3000m national record by 5 seconds and moving to within 0.2 seconds of the world record. Watt was subsequently replaced by Tyler-Sharman, and a controversial legal battle ensued in which Watt was reinstated by appeal. Watt managed eighth in Atlanta while Tyler-Sharman watched from the stands.
She missed selection in the pursuit, but did however compete in the 24 km points race, winning bronze.
Further national and international meets included winning the individual pursuit and time trials at the 1997 Oceania Championships in 1997, and winning a second national pursuit title. At the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur she was beaten in her individual pursuit semi-final ride after which she launched a public verbal tirade against team management and Charlie Walsh, suggesting that her prospects had been sabotaged by being forced to use unfamiliar pedals.
The outburst saw her sent home, unable to compete in the ride-off for bronze. In the lead-up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the Australian Sports Commission controversially funded her return to competition to compete at the National Track Titles.
She now coaches in Pennsylvania under her maiden name.