His uncle is Markus Prock, the winner of three Winter Olympic medals in men's luge, who settled him a contract with Fischer Skis in 2001 and a few years later with Red Bull.

Schlierenzauer then enrolled at Skigymnasium Stams in Austria, the world's oldest ski-sport training center and boarding secondary school.

Schlierenzauer debuted in the World Cup finishing in 24th place at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival on 12 March 2006.

During the Four Hills Tournament, Finnish newspapers claimed that Schlierenzauer was extremely underweight, however, no evidence has ever been found to substantiate this accusation.

He won the fourth competition, in Bischofshofen, Austria, on his 17th birthday, but finished the tournament in second place, behind Anders Jacobsen (Norway), and in front of Simon Ammann (Switzerland).

He was second, but Adam Małysz from Poland ended up taking the first-place position from Anders Jacobsen, so Schlierenzauer finished third.

His coach deemed the event in Planica too demanding for 17-year-old Schlierenzauer, so he did not compete there and ended finishing fourth, behind Adam Małysz, Anders Jacobsen and Simon Ammann.

He took 8th place at the competition in Bischofshofen which was originally to be held in Innsbruck but was moved due to strong winds.

He skipped the competitions in Predazzo, where Tom Hilde from Norway took his first World Cup victory, and in Harrachov.

He also skipped the competition in Sapporo, ruining his chance to take the first-place position from his Austrian teammate Thomas Morgenstern.

After consecutively winning the last four individual competitions of the season, Schlierenzauer ranked second overall in the 2007/08 World Cup, 233 points behind his teammate Thomas Morgenstern.

On 11 February 2009, Schlierenzauer became only the fourth jumper to win 6 consecutive World Cup events, tying the record held by Austrian teammate Thomas Morgenstern and Finns Janne Ahonen and Matti Hautamäki.

The run of victories came to an end in Oberstdorf during the ski flying event on 14 February, when Schlierenzauer arrived in 8th position.

The current records of wins, podiums and points in a single world cup season is held by Peter Prevc.

He celebrated 8 World Cup victories including wins in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Innsbruck during the Four Hills Tournament.

Two days later he won the Team Event with Wolfgang Loitzl, Andreas Kofler and Thomas Morgenstern, earning Schlierenzauer his first ever Olympic gold medal.

At the Ski Flying World Championships in Planica, he was beaten only by Simon Ammann and won silver.

Later in the season, he won three gold medals at FIS Nordic World Ski Championships at Holmenkollen in Oslo.

In the competition on the large hill, he won his first and only individual gold medal at the Nordic World Championships, only 0.3 points ahead of his teammate Thomas Morgenstern.

After poor performances at the beginning of the season, he managed to win the first competition in Lillehammer, it was his 53 and last World Cup victory.

As the season progressed, Schlierenzauer fought for his form and was able to win the silver medal on the large hill event at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun, he only had to admit defeat to the German Severin Freund.

At the Nordic World Ski Championships 2017 in Lahti it was enough for Schlierenzauer to win a bronze medal with the team.

Schlierenzauer disappointed in the season 2018/19 opener at Wisla, but was 12th in the difficult wind conditions at Kuusamo, a week later.

Together with Janne Ahonen, Matti Hautamäki, Thomas Morgenstern and Ryōyū Kobayashi, he holds the longest winning streak in the World Cup with six victories in a row.