Faces no longer fitting, sadly, at the top (5)
I believe the answer is:
meets
'faces no longer' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to competing as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'fitting sadly at the top' is the wordplay.
'fitting' becomes 'meet' (synonyms).
'at the top' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'sadly' is 's'.
'meet'+'s'='MEETS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for meets that I've seen before include "Comes into contact with" , "Hunt assemblies" , "Comes across" , "Makes contact with" , "Effectively copes with" .)