front-runner vs competitor

front-runner and competitor both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
front-runner	Yes	No	No	No
competitor	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, competitor is a hypernym of front-runner; that is, competitor is a word with a broader meaning than front-runner:

Other hypernyms of front-runner include challenger, competition, contender, rival.

front-runner (noun)	competitor (noun)
a competitor thought likely to win	the contestant you hope to defeat