"It's a great feeling," Shanks said. "I've been world champion once before and it's so hard to get. Once you have that feeling it makes you want it even more.
"My form in the team pursuit has been good. All the data shows I've got great form, but it was a matter of putting it out there. I haven't been focusing on the individual, so it was a bit of the unkown, but my legs felt great today," she said.
Australian Ashlee Ankudinoff won bronze, beating compatriot Amy Cure by .049s.
Shanks' win ensured New Zealand would claim their largest haul of medals at a world championship, surpassing the four they won in Apeldoorn last year and at Copenhagen in 2010.
It will not, however, translate into a similar haul at the Olympics. The pursuit medals won by Shanks and Westley Gough, plus Simon van Velthooven's kilo time trial bronze are all in non-Olympic disciplines.
As admirable as the team sprint was in claiming bronze here, they cannot rely on the luck that saw two of the favoured teams - Germany and Great Britain - disqualified for change-over infractions.
That leaves the men's team pursuit as the best chance for a medal, with others, including the women's team pursuit, hoping they can make the improvements needed to force their way into contention four months from now.
Shanks admitted the individual pursuit had become a secondary focus after being discontinued as an Olympic discipline. Instead she has focused on honing her combination with Lauren Ellis and Jaime Nielsen in the team pursuit.
But last night was all about her.
She scorched into the gold medal ride with a 3km ride of 3m 27.268s, taking 1.207s out of her previous personal best.
"I had to make a PB just to make the final," she exclaimed.
Adding to the sense of occasion was the fact she was riding off against one of her best friends, Houvenaghel. They have been duelling in earnest since 2009, when Shanks beat her to win the world title in Poland.
"We've had a few battles and last time we raced on this track she beat me by .2s. I tend to back up pretty well and I was confident that if I went out there and executed my plan in the first half of the race I would be able to push it and race her home."
Both were assisted this week by the absence of defending world champion, American Sarah Hammer, from the field. She instead focused on the Olympic-discipline omnium, where she finished third.
That will not matter to Shanks, however, as she now contemplates how she can help eke more time out of the team pursuit that finished fourth behind Great Britain, Australia and Canada on the boards at the Hisense Arena.
Shanks said this week that for New Zealand to claim a medal in that event at London, all three were going to have to start pulling even laps. In that regard she's laid down a formidable marker to her teammates. Nielsen finished 10th in 3m 35.286s and Ellis a further 2.639s back in 12th.
"It was a disappointing result in the TP, obviously we wanted that bronze," Shanks said.
