Differences in sports training lead to differences in the style of turn, and these affect the turn technique during the multistage 20-m shuttle run test. The purpose of this study was to determine running characteristics during the multistage 20-m shuttle run test with a triaxial accelerometer. Four male rugby players, four male long-distance runners, and three untrained males undertook two tasks: a shuttle running task (SRT), which has the same protocol as the multistage 20-m shuttle running test, and a treadmill running task (TRT), which has the same ratio of speed increase and duration time as the multistage 20-m shuttle running test. Anterior-posterior, vertical, and medial-lateral acceleration were measured using a triaxial accelerometer worn on the right side of the hip. A linear mixed model (LMM) with three factors (task, group, and velocity) was used to analyze the running characteristics in different sports. Anterior-posterior and medial-lateral outputs in the SRT were significantly higher than those in the TRT ( P =.011; P =.003, respectively); by contrast, there was no significant difference in vertical output ( P =.534). Because the interactions of task and group in anterior-posterior and medial-lateral outputs were significant, LMMs with two factors (task and velocity) in anterior-posterior and medial-lateral outputs were used in each group to analyze the effect of turn techniques. Anterior-posterior and medial-lateral outputs were increased in the SRT. Anterior-posterior output may reflect changes in the speed of turn and medial-lateral output may reflect cutting movements in the turn. Additionally, whereas both anterior-posterior and medial-lateral acceleration were increased in rugby players, only medial-lateral acceleration was increased in long-distance runners and anterior-posterior acceleration was increased in untrained males. These results indicate that data obtained using a triaxial accelerometer reflect running characteristics during the multistage 20-m shuttle run test.