Gold Medalist and American Record Holder Townley Haas Announces Retirement

U.S. Olympian and American Record holder Townley Hass has announced his retirement from swimming at the age of 25. Haas made the announcement on Instagram saying “After some time off and lots of thinking, I’ve decided it’s time to retire from swimming. This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make but I believe that it’s the right one.”

Read the full announcement below:

Haas has made an impact at both the international and NCAA levels. At the 2016 Olympic Games, Haas was a member of the gold medal winning 4×200 freestyle relay. Haas had the fastest split in the field, and was tied for the sixth-fastest flying start split ever as he went a 1:44.14. Haas also swam in the 200 freestyle individually, finishing 5th in a time of 1:45.58.

Haas continued to have some of the fastest relay splits ever while at the 2018 Pan Pac Championships. There he recorded the third fastest split in history at the time, anchoring in a time of 1:43.78 to help give the American men gold in the 4×200 freestyle relay. 

Haas also qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games after placing second in the 200 freestyle at the Olympic Trials in June 2021 swimming a time of 1:45.66. At the 2020 Olympics, Haas finished 12th in the 200 freestyle swimming a time of 1:46.07 in semifinals. Haas also anchored the the 4×200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:44.87. That relay finished fourth. 

Outside of the Olympics, Haas also had great success during his time at the University of Texas. Haas competed for Texas from 2015-2019 where he won 10 NCAA Titles and was a 17-time CSCAA All-American. He also contributed to three team titles for the Longhorns in 2016, 2017, and 2018. While at Texas, Haas set the American, NCAA, and US Open record in the 200 freestyle swimming a 1:30.46 at NCAA’s his freshman year. 

At 2018 NCAAs, during Haas’s junior season, Indiana’s Blake Pieroni broke Haas’s American Record in the SCY 200 freestyle while leading off the 800 freestyle relay. Two days later, Haas took back the record as he swam to a winning time of 1:29.50 in the individual 200 freestyle. Dean Farris has since broken Hass’s record swimming a 1:29.15 at NCAA’s in 2019.

In his senior year, Haas anchored the 4×200 freestyle relay for Texas splitting a time of 1:29.66. That relay finished in a combined time of 6:05.08 to set an American Record which still stands today. 

After graduating from Texas, Haas joined the ISL for its first season where he was a member of the Cali Condors. In his second season with the Condors, Haas set an American Record in the 200 short course meter freestyle as he swam a time of 1:40.49 at the ISL final. 

Haas scored a total of 68.5 points this past season for the Condors. Most notably, Haas won the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:42.18 and finished second in the 400 freestyle in a time of 3:40.82 at the ISL finals.