Schoenfelder decided to compete in this year's Winter Games only 10 days before the event began and said he was pleased he did so.
"I was very spontaneous to come here and now I'm very glad I did."
"I'm very happy that I'm allowed to ski here. There was little space for the event and it is important for me that I have been able to train here."
The 34-year-old Austrian has missed the past few Winter Games because a knee injury has kept him from training during the off-seasons.
It has therefore been a long time since he was able to claim a top-10 spot in world rankings, the last time being 2003-04 when he won the men's World Cup slalom title.
Ever since he won two bronze medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, he has been plagued by injuries.
He said he was aiming for a medal at this year's Ski World Cup in Finland.
"The most important thing for me is to come back from New Zealand and set up for the difficult conditions in Finland."
He has done a decent job at setting up for a November medal after taking a silver in Wednesday's men's slalom event at Coronet Peak.
He was pipped at the post by Will Brandenburg, of the US, by 0.47sec.
The athlete said he had been "long in the game", and one of the best parts of his profession was seeing the world - Queenstown rating as one of his favourite spots.
"I love the lake, I love the mountains and I love that fact you can ski and play golf together here."
The world-class skier said he spent a fair bit of his spare time playing golf.
"I've got a handicap of 15 now," he said.
His talents don't stop with golf and skiing. Schoenfelder has also had some success as a pop singer in Austria, with a cover version of Wolfgang Ambros' hit Schifoan - meaning skiing.
