The 9 SQL queries against 132 rows represent minimal database load, placing the compute bottleneck squarely in LLM synthesis rather than data retrieval. This workload is well-suited for scheduled runs given the predictable query volume and modest row count; on-demand execution is also viable if latency tolerance is 30–60 seconds. The primary lever for cost reduction is consolidating the multiple LLM API calls into fewer, larger batch requests—grouping medal records by country or era before synthesis would reduce per-call overhead while maintaining output quality.