Like everyone else earlier this spring, Townley Haas was abruptly impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown.

Having just returned from the TYR Pro Swim Series event in Des Moines in early March, where he felt he swam very well despite being near the end of a very tough training season, Haas and his Longhorn post-grad teammates felt the repercussions of the virus right away.

“As soon as the NBA cancelled the rest of the season and then the NCAA cancelled basketball, (the University of) Texas closed the campus, and that included closing our pool, so we had nowhere to train,” said Haas, who completed his degree this past May despite finishing his NCAA eligibility as an athlete in 2019.

“This was significant for us because, at the time, the Olympics hadn’t been postponed, although we all suspected it would be. It was a tough, confusing time.”

Haas and several of his teammates ended up finding an outdoor pool at a club team in Round Rock, Texas, where they were able to train – and then all pools were closed – and within days, the Olympics were postponed until 2021.

With no pool for training, Haas decided to go home to stay with his parents in Virginia and wait things out in quarantine.

During his time at home, Haas was able to continue to exercise – doing ab work, pushups, pullups and running (which he didn’t enjoy) – but was glad to spend time with family and relax and allow his body to rest and repair.

“It was great to be home and have my mom offer to do my laundry,” he said. “We all knew this was serious – the NBA shutdown mid-game after all – and we all knew postponing the Olympics was the right move as hard as it was to accept.”

Haas said prior to the postponement of the Tokyo Games, he was swimming fast and feeling good, but wasn’t completely disappointed or discouraged by the decision.

Because the virus affected swimmers worldwide – interrupting training, competitions, etc. – he was in full support of waiting a year so everyone could have equal opportunity in the states and across the globe to train and be at their best for competitions.

“Because we were all impacted, it would have been unfair to hold Trials and the Olympics, plus there was the health implications and uncertainty of fans being together in large arenas, etc.,” he said. “It just made sense to hold things for this year and allow some time and distance to see where we are next year.”

Haas said pools – including the UT pool – in Texas opened a little over a month ago, so he returned to Austin to resume training.

“It was awesome to get back in the water, but it took a little while to get back into swimming shape,” he said. “(Coach) Eddie (Reese) didn’t take it easy on us. He didn’t let up.”

Now, with a year to continue training and preparing for Tokyo in 2021, Haas said he is committed to getting back to where he was prior to the pandemic, as well as making the most of his professional athlete opportunities.

As someone who is more comfortable letting his results in the pool largely do his talking, Haas, who said he tends to be more reserved in large groups but is talkative among his close friends, is looking to open himself up more to opportunities to self-promote.

He already knows he’s made the right statements in the water – albeit somewhat quietly compared to some of his U.S. National Team teammates.

Along with his Olympic gold medal (800 freestyle relay) from Rio, Haas is a seven-time medalist at the past two World Championships (4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) and won two gold medals (800 free relay, 200 freestyle) at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships.

During his NCAA career at Texas, he finished as a 10-time NCAA champion and broke the American and U.S. Open record in the 200-yard free.

“I’ve never been comfortable talking about myself – it’s hard for me to do that even though I know I did swim well in Rio and at Worlds and other meets since the Olympics,” he said. “I know social media is a great way to tell our stories – tell more about our lives – but I’m still learning about it. I’m not good at it, but I know I’ve got to get better.”

As for how he plans to complement his training with competition this fall and next winter and spring leading up to Trials, Haas is hopeful the International Swimming League (ISL) season – where he’s a member of the Cali Condors – will resume this year in some form and currently scheduled meets will happen as planned.

If not, he said he’ll wait for spring 2021 TYR Pro Swim Series meets or whatever is allowed then due to the virus to get ready race-wise to be in top form before Trials next summer.

“There’s just a lot of uncertainty right now – in and out of the pool – but I’m just trying my best to proceed as usual, and that means preparing for Olympic Trials next year,” he said. “It would definitely be weird not to race before Trials, but everyone is in the same situation, so I’m sure we’d all find ways to invent some opportunities to race.”

And if the virus continues to disrupt life as we know it and postpones Trials and the Olympics again?

“We’ve all just got to prepare for 2021, but if that happens and we have to postpone again, we’ll all just more time to get faster,” he said. “I don’t see that happening, but as we’ve learned and seen so far, nothing is predictable these days.”