She is part of a beefed-up, 11-strong New Zealand cycling team which will be using the event to test the merits of several riders who did not go to the Olympic Games.
Shanks (26), fourth in the Olympic individual pursuit, will return to track action in that event and will anchor BikeNZ's women's team pursuit combination.
She will be joined by world junior championship pursuit medallist Lauren Ellis (Ashburton) and Auckland's Kaytee Boyd, who progressed to her first track competition from the Power to Podium initiative.
Boyd is a BikeNZ representative at the world championships in both mountain bike and road racing.
The Dunedin-based rider was part of the New Zealand women's squad which trained at the Invercargill velodrome in a bid to make the pursuit stream.
"It was awesome. There was a big group of girls at Invercargill," Shanks told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"There was intense competition to get spots in the team and this brought everyone up."The women's teams pursuit is a new event and will be contested at the world championships for the first time next year.
The British Cycling Federation is making a strong bid to have it included at the London Olympic Games in 2012.
New Zealand finished sixth at a World Cup event at Melbourne last month.
It is a stronger team this time, with Boyd and Shanks coming into the side alongside Ellis, who is the only survivor from the Melbourne event.
The Beijing World Cup on January 16-18 is Shanks' first serious competition since she finished fourth in the 3000m individual pursuit at the Beijing Olympics.
It will give her the shakedown she needs for the world championships next March.
Shanks has just completed two weeks of intensive training at Invercargill and is keen to better her personal best time of 3min 32sec. set at the Olympics.
The only New Zealand rider to better her 3min 30sec target is Athens Olympic champion Sarah Ulmer.
"A sub 3min 30sec time will be needed to get a medal at the world championships," Shanks said.
Coach Craig Palmer has altered Shanks' training in the build-up to the world championships.
"We have experimented with a couple of things and have cut back on the mileage. I'm doing more intensive training in a slightly shorter time."
The men's team pursuit medal-winning squad has also been named in the squad, along with fellow Olympian Catherine Cheatley for the three-day meet.
Sam Bewley (Rotorua), Westley Gough (Waipukurau), Peter Latham (Te Awamutu), Marc Ryan (Timaru) and Jesse Sergent (Palmerston North), the bronze medal pursuit team from Beijing, will head the BikeNZ team.
Missing is individual pursuit medallist Hayden Roulston, who is preparing with his new professional Cervlo TestTeam road squad.
The other men in the team for Beijing include world omnium champion Hayden Godfrey (Christchurch) and exciting sprinter Simon van Velthoven (Palmerston North), who has gained selection after impressive performances at the recent Oceania Championships and World Cup in Melbourne.
Cheatley, who will also be considered for the pursuit team, will also compete in the scratch and points races.
"We are very excited about the women's programme," coach Tim Carswell said.
"We are not putting any pressure on the women's team pursuit but we are interested in their first hit-out at this level."All riders will available for the track programme through to the world championships in Pruskow, Poland, from March 25-29.
Many will then head to the United States and Europe to join various professional road teams for the rest of the season.
Additionally, BikeNZ has selected a team to contest the Australian Youth Olympics in Sydney next month.
The squad is made up of riders who performed well in this year's world under-19 championships, and will be aiming for top performances as they prepare for this year's world championships in Moscow in July.
