Francis Townley Haas (born December 13, 1996) is a retired American competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who specialized in freestyle events. He is an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

ist in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay from the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. Haas competed collegiately for the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

from 2015 to 2019 under head coach

Eddie Reese Edwin Charles Reese (born July 23, 1941) is an American college and Olympic swimming coach, and a former college swimmer. Reese serves as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns men's swimming and diving team that represents the University of Texa ...

where he was a 10-time NCAA Champion, a 17-time All-American, and a 3-time NCAA team champion (

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

). He is the former American record-holder in the 200-yard freestyle (1:29.50) and represented the

Cali Condors The Cali Condors are a professional swimming club and one of the original eight clubs of the International Swimming League. The team is based in San Francisco led by general manager Jason Lezak and head coach Gregg Troy. Assistant Coaches for the ...

in the

International Swimming League The International Swimming League (ISL) is an annual professional swimming league, established in 2019. It features a team-based competition format with fast-paced race sessions. In 2019, the regular season started in October and the Final Match ...

Background

Haas grew up in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

(where his family still lives) and graduated from Benedictine College Prep. Before his career at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, he swam for Geoff Brown at Nova of Virginia Aquatics (NOVA), which sent nine swimmers to the 2016 Olympic Trials in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

. Townley has two siblings, an older sister, Emily, and older brother, Wyatt. His sister was shot twice in the

Virginia Tech Shooting The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree shooting that occurred on April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. Seung-Hui Cho, an u ...

, but survived. His mother is the Virginia State Director for the

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) and the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV or Ed Fund), its sister organization, are two parts of a national, non-profit gun control advocacy organization that is opposed to gun violence. Since 1 ...

. In December 2020, Haas announced his engagement to his girlfriend of over 5 years, Megan Meseck.Dornan, Ben (December 14, 2020)
"Olympic Gold Medalist Townley Haas And Megan Meseck Announce Engagement"
''

SwimSwam ''SwimSwam'' news is a swimming news organization covering competitive swimming along with diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. SwimSwam launched as a website in March 2012 and quickly became the most-read swimming website in the world. ...

''. Retrieved January 15, 2022.De George, Matthew (December 15, 2020)
"Townley Haas, Megan Meseck Announce Engagement"
''

Swimming World ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

''. Retrieved January 15, 2022.

Career

2014: Five-time Junior Pan Pacific gold medalist

2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships

In August 2014, as a 17-year-old at the

2014 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships were held from 27 to 31 August 2014 in Maui, Hawaii, United States.

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, Haas won gold medals in five events, the 200 meter freestyle with a Championships record time of 1:48.32, the 800 meter freestyle with a 8:00.99, the 4×100 meter freestyle relay with a 3:18.68, the 4×200 meter freestyle with a 7:21.36, and the 4×100 meter medley relay with a 3:39.09.Hy-Tek (August 31, 2014)
"Meet Results: 2014 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships"
''swmeets.com''. Retrieved October 31, 2022.

2016

2016 NCAA Championships

On the first day of the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

season, Haas won the 4×200-yard freestyle relay for the Longhorns alongside teammates

Jack Conger John "Jack" Peet Conger (born September 26, 1994) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in butterfly and freestyle events. He is an Olympic gold medalist in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de ...

, Clark Smith, and

Joseph Schooling Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean professional swimmer who specialises in butterfly, freestyle and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's first ev ...

, setting a new U.S. Open record with Haas swimming the fastest relay split ever for a 200-yard freestyle in 1:30.52. The next day, Haas won his first individual NCAA Championship in the 500-yard freestyle going 4:09.00. Following his title in the 500, Haas set a new precedent in the 200-yard freestyle by becoming the first man to ever break the 1:31.00 barrier in a new

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, and U.S. Open record time of 1:30.46. This time eclipsed the elusive 10-year-old mark of 1:31.20 held by the Arizona Wildcat

Simon Burnett Simon Andrew Burnett (born 14 April 1983) is an English former competition swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games. He formerly held the British Records in the ...

2016 U.S. Olympic Trials

At the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in

, Haas won the 200-meter freestyle in 1:45.66 ahead of

Conor Dwyer Conor James Dwyer (born January 10, 1989) is a former American competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. He competed in freestyle and medley events, and won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team a ...

and

, qualifying for the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

. Haas also placed third in the 400 m freestyle.

2016 Summer Olympics

Natação Rio 2016 1036469-10082016- mg 7874

At the Rio Olympics, Haas placed fifth in the 200-meter freestyle and won gold in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He swam the second leg of the relay, providing the fastest split of the entire field by 0.71 seconds going 1:44.14.

2017

2017 NCAA Championships

At the

2017 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships The 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships were contested from March 22–25, 2017 at the Indiana University Natatorium at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana at the 94th annual NCAA ...

, Haas again won the 200 free, going just shy of his record time in 1:30.65. His second victory of the meet came in the 400 freestyle relay, with Haas splitting a 41.01 on the third leg. His relay consisting of Brett Ringgold,

and

set a new NCAA and U.S. Open record in 2:45.39. In the 500 free, Haas wasn't able to defend his title and finished second behind teammate Clark Smith, swimming a personal best time of 4:08.92. Haas also failed to defend Texas' title in the 800 free relay, finishing second behind

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

2017 World Championships

Swimming in the 2017 World Championships, Haas won 3 gold medals, as well as earning a silver and a bronze. In the 200 m free, Haas placed second behind Sun Yang, earning himself his first major international medal in an individual event. Since

Caeleb Dressel Caeleb Remel Dressel (born August 16, 1996) is an American professional swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He won ...

, 2017 world champion in the 100 m freestyle, was swimming the butterfly leg of the medley relay, this allowed Haas to swim the freestyle portion of the 4×100 medley relay preliminaries, which won him his second gold medal of the competition. Haas picked up his third gold medal by virtue of the mixed free relay prelims. Swimming the second leg of the free relay, Haas split 1:44.58 to pick up a bronze medal behind

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

2018

2018 NCAA Championships

Swimming in his junior season at the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, Haas anchored the Longhorns to a third-place finish in the 800 free relay. Earlier in the race,

Blake Pieroni Blake John Pieroni (born November 15, 1995) is a three-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He is a two time Olympian and gold medalist in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics. On th ...

broke Haas' American record in the 200 y free while leading off the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the Nationa ...

' relay. Pieroni's 1:29.63 not only broke Haas' American record by almost a second, it also made Pieroni the first man to ever swim under the 1:30.00 barrier in the 200 y free. Two days later, Haas raced Pieroni head-to-head in the individual 200 free. Stepping up to the plate, Haas beat him in a new

, and U.S. Open record time of 1:29.50, taking his record back after a 2-day hiatus. Haas also won the 500 free in a new personal best time of 4:08.60 and got 6th place in the 100 free (41.67).

2018 Pan Pacific Championships

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Haas got more hardware by winning two gold medals. In the 200 m freestyle, Haas outlasted

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

teammate Andrew Seliskar, winning in 1:45.56 to Seliskar's 1:45.74. On the second day of competition, Haas competed in the freestyle relay alongside Andrew Seliskar, Blake Pieroni, and

Zach Apple Zachary "Zach" Douglas Apple (born April 23, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in the sprint freestyle events. He currently swims for DC Trident in the International Swimming League. He won his first Olympic gold medal in t ...

. With only one swimmer left to swim, the USA dove in 1.40 seconds behind

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The Aussie lead slowly diminished as Haas closed on

Jack Cartwright Jack Cartwright (born 22 September 1998) is an Australian swimmer. He competed in the men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. At the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Cartwright won gold medals ...

. With his final lunge to the wall, Haas outtouched Cartwright in a clutch swim as the USA beat Australia 7:04.36 to 7:04.70. Haas' split of 1:43.78 was the 3rd fastest rolling-start split in history.

2019

2019 NCAA Championships

In his final season as a collegiate athlete, Haas entered the 2019 NCAA Championships at his home pool in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

looking to repeat his title in the 500 y freestyle, and 4-peat his 200 y freestyle titles. Swimming the anchor leg of the 800 free relay, Haas split 1:29.66 to give the Longhorns the victory as well as a new NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record time of 6:05.08. Swimming in the heat prior to the Longhorns', Harvard's

Dean Farris Dean Farris (born November 14, 1997) is the American record holder in the 200 yard freestyle. He won the 2019 NCAA Division I Championships titles in the 100 yard backstroke and 100 yard freestyle. At the 2019 World University Games he won t ...

broke Haas' 200 free American record while leading off the Crimson's 800 free relay in 1:29.15. On day 2 of the competition, Haas repeated his title in the 500 free with a new NCAA record time of 4:08.19. While looking to make a clean sweep of 200 freestyles at the NCAAs and retake his American record, Haas eventually finished a distant 4th place in 1:31.80, well off his personal best time. In the last race of his college career, Haas anchored the Longhorns to a victory in the 400 free relay (2:45.12), splitting 40.76. Despite the victory, the Longhorns finished second in the team standings to the Cal Golden Bears.

2019 World Championships

In his first event at the 2019 World Championships, Haas swam in the prelims of the free relay, leading off in 48.60. The relay would go on to victory later that night, winning Haas a gold medal. In the 200 m free, Haas regressed to 14th place going 1:46.37, well off his silver medal performance from 2 years prior. Swimming the anchor leg of the 800 free relay, Haas split 1:45.16 to get the USA on the podium with a bronze medal.

2019 International Swimming League

In 2019 he was a member of the inaugural

representing the

, who finished third place in the final match in Las Vegas, Nevada in December. Haas competed in the 200 meter and 400 meter freestyle races as well as relay events throughout the season.

2022: Retirement

In February 2022, ''

'' and ''

'' confirmed Haas had permanently retired from competitive swimming for the remainder of his life.Pelshaw, Anya (February 13, 2022)
"Gold Medalist And American Record Holder Townley Haas Announced Retirement"
''

''. Retrieved February 13, 2022.D'Addona, Dan (February 13, 2022)
"Olympic Gold Medalist Townley Haas Announces Retirement From Competitive Swimming"
''

''. Retrieved February 13, 2022.

Personal bests

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haas, Townley 1996 births Living people American male freestyle swimmers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Texas Longhorns men's swimmers Sportspeople from Richmond, Virginia Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Virginia