Katie Ledecky can rightly be accused by her competitors of being distant at least during a race.

In the 1500-meter freestyle, the 11-time Olympic medalist previously has won her race by a lot and waited patiently for others to finish.

It happened again Tuesday at the Paris Olympics .

Ledecky won her heat in a time of 15:47.43 , almost 18 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Li Bingjie of China.

She had time to check out the scoreboard, peel off her swim cap and remove her goggles and still no one else had touched the wall.

If she were at a Paris sidewalk cafe, she could drink a lukewarm demitasse of espresso in that amount of time.

Ledecky, the defending Olympic 1500 champion and world record holder, will attempt to win her eighth gold medal and tie the womens swim record of 12 medals overall in the final on Wednesday.

She appeared sluggish in taking bronze in the 400 in her first Olympics final in Paris.

This time fans hope she keeps her distance.