Your rival is your free personal trainer.

Someone slightly better than you forces a level of effort that you would not choose alone. They set the pace, expose the specific weakness, and remove the option of coasting, which is exactly what a good coach does. The resentment you feel is just the effort registering. Competition is useful right up to the point where it becomes the reason you play.

Watch what the person ahead of you actually does differently, in detail, rather than resenting the result. Copy one habit of theirs this week. Keep the comparison to their method and not to your worth, because the second one does nothing.