In speed skating the milliseconds are very important, especially in the 100m. 9.58 is the 100m world record. In speed skating there are many different age categories. There is "Open" which is people of any age, usually the fastest people. The Olympics and World Cups are open, it does not matter how old you are. When you are still a kid, or teenager you are in divisions of every 2 years. It's like high school sports, when you're a junior you with grade 9's AND 10's. When senior your with 11's and 12's. However there is still usually an open category for the fastest skaters.

As 100 meters race: 9.40 seconds (Yuya Oikawa). In a 500 meter race, the first 100 meters are also clocked: the fastest there is 9.37 seconds (Masaaki Kobayashi). Ladies the times are 10.21 and 10.13 respectivly (by Jenny Wolf).

That the first hundred meters time over 500 meter is faster than the official record, is probably due to the fact that 100 meters are rarely skated, and 500 meters very often.