A run of 9.8 seconds in March 1923 ranked him sixth in the world rankings for the 100-yd dash that year. Upon meeting him while touring the Philippines, world record holder Charley Paddock of the United States called Catalon a "champion of champions". News of his near-world record runs spread to Western media through Fred England and Elwood Brown – the Americans who led the Philippine Amateur Athletic Association. His feats encouraged interest in the country of sending a Philippines team for the first time for the 1924 Paris Olympics. In the end it was another sprinter, his rival David Nepomuceno, that became the first Filipino to compete at the Olympics and he composed the entire one-man 1924 Filipino squad. Catalon was entered for the men's Olympic 100 metres and 200 metres, being drawn alongside America's Paddock in the former, but did not attend the games or start in those events.