finalist vs rival

finalist and rival both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
finalist	Yes	No	No	No
rival	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

As nouns, rival is a hypernym of finalist; that is, rival is a word with a broader meaning than finalist:

Other hypernyms of finalist include challenger, competition, competitor, contender.

finalist (noun)	rival (noun)
a contestant who reaches the final stages of a competition	the contestant you hope to defeat

finalist (adjective)	rival (adjective)
	as a rival in a competition

finalist (verb)	rival (verb)
	be the rival of, be in competition with
	be equal to in quality or ability