De Haas was third on the long distance in 1999 at the Junior World Championships. In the same year the Australian also had his first World Cup appearance in Scotland. He finished 45th in the middle distance. In the next few years he was able to continuously improve his performance. At the 2005 World Championships in Japan came seventh in the sprint.
In 2001 he won the Jukola season with the Finnish club Turun Suunnistajat . This made him the first non-European to win the traditional relay race in Finland. Later he moved to the clubs Turun Metsänkävijät and Rasti-Kurikka .
