Crossword Genius

Gallant second in athletics (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

games

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'athletics' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'gallant second' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'second' could be 's' (common abbreviation) and 's' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'game' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for games that I've seen before include "Sports and pastimes" , "Matches" , "Sporting contests" , "See 9" , "Such as football, snap, etc" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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