We aimed to investigate whether a 6 min distance trial (6minDT), 1800 m time trial (1800mTT) or the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test (30-15IFT) may be used interchange ably to estimate Maximal Aerobic Speed (MAS) in academy soccer players, competing in the Premier League U18 and National League Alliance Academy North, in England. Twenty six (n = 26) male academy soccer players (age: 17.2 ± 0.6 [15.5 - 18.5] years; stature: 178.4 ± 5.1 [170.0 - 193.2] cm; body mass: 71.8 ± 7.7 [60.0 - 90.4] kg), completed a 30-15IFT on a 3G pitch, with MAS defined as 87% of test final stage velocity. Distance and time trials were then performed on a full-size outdoor 3G or Grass pitch in a counterbalanced order. Total Distance was measured via 10 Hz Global Positioning System units with MAS determined as distance divided by time to completion. All tests were performed on a MD+2 or MD+3, each separated by 1-2 weeks. Ethics clearance was received by the institutional research ethics sub-committee. Data analysis was performed in RStudio (Posit Software, PBC). The associations between MAS estimates were calculated using Pearson`s product-moment correlation coefficients and a robust repeated measures ANOVA was performed (robustlmm package) to estimate mar ginal mean differences between tests (emmeans package). Players achieved a MAS (mean ± SD) of 4.39 ± 0.24 [3.77 - 4.78] m·s-1 during the 6minDT, 4.49 ± 0.26 [4.01 - 4.85] m·s-1 during the 1800mTT, and 4.94 ± 0.22 [4.59 - 5.32] m·s-1 during the 30-15IFT. All associations between tests were observed to be positive. Associations between 1800mTT and 6minDT ranged from moderate to very large (r = 0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.46 to 0.86). Further moderate to very large associa tions were observed between the 30-15IFT and time and dis tance trials (6minDT: r = 0.65; 0.35 to 0.83; 1800mTT: 0.66, 0.37 to 0.84). MAS estimated from the 30-15IFT was significantly higher than that estimated from both the distance-based trial (6minDT: 0.57, 0.50 to 0.65 m·s-1, p<0.0001) and time-trial (1800mTT: 0.45, 0.37 to 0.52 m·s-1, p <0.0001). Our distance based trial resulted in a lower estimation of MAS compared to the time trial (-0.13, -0.21 to -0.05 m·s-1, p = 0.0002). In conclu sion, our data suggest that whilst there are some associations between MAS estimated from the 6minDT, 1800mTT, and 30- 15IFT, all three tests provide clearly different estimations of MAS.
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