By Shi Davidi, The Canadian Press

Long-track speedskaters will get a first opportunity to assess themselves in international conditions this weekend as the World Cup season kicks off in Berlin.

Headlined by Cindy Klassen, Kristina Groves, Christine Nesbitt, Clara Hughes and Denny Morrison, Canada is sending a team of 10 women and 13 men to the three-day event that starts Friday at Sportforum Speed-Skating Hall.

It's an important step toward preparing for the Vancouver Olympics after a long summer of training.

"They're always anxious to put those preparation and focus plans together and see how quickly they can get into their performance zone and to see where they're at in terms of their opposition," Brian Rahill, Speed Skating Canada's director of sport.

"That's always a bit of an unknown. Obviously you know what you've done over the summer but you're not sure about what the opposition has done, so there's always a level of interest in taking stock of where everyone is at."

Yet there's more than that at stake in this World Cup event and the four to follow through mid-December, as skaters are also competing to seed themselves and earn berths for their countries at the 2010 Winter Games.

That means getting good results is paramount and puts pressure on the skaters to deliver from the get-go.

Klassen's races will be among those of particular interest to the Canadians, as she returns to international competition for the first time since undergoing surgery on both her knees last year.

The 30-year-old from Winnipeg qualified for the country's World Cup team at four distances during the national trials last month, but her times were off those she skated when she won five medals at the Turin Olympics.

She's got some work to do, as does Jeremy Wotherspoon, who's coming back from a broken arm and only qualified for the team at 1,000 metres and not at 500, his speciality.

Wotherspoon won't skate in Berlin and is scheduled to make his World Cup return the following weekend in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

"They're pretty much on track other than Jeremy qualifying in the 1,000 instead of the 500," said Rahill. "Cindy's right on track really in terms of the progress she's making.

"The goal for her was always to be as ready as possible to ensure she makes the Olympic team at Christmas and ultimately to be ready for the Games. Right now she's on schedule based on what we saw from the fall trials. Jeremy, same thing.

"It was a bit of a surprise for him not to qualify in the 500 and qualify in the 1,000, so obviously he still has some speed work to do to address that. That will be the focus of the time between now and the Olympic trials, where we anticipate he'll definitely make the 500 metres as well."

Nesbitt is another skater Rahill is looking forward to watching.

The 24-year-old from London, Ont., enters the season as the 1,000-metre world champion thanks to her breakout performance at the Richmond Olympic Oval last March, and looks primed to build on that.

"Christine Nesbitt has really had a good summer of training so we're curious to see how that translates internationally," said Rahill. "She's one of our women's pillars.

"We're going to look for the usual on the women's side, our leaders of the past few years, Kristina Groves, Christine Nesbitt and Clara Hughes.

"Without Jeremy being here, Denny (Morrison) is our big hopeful in terms of podium performances (on the men's side). After that it's more seeing where everybody else is."