  A detailed investigation of the magnetization processes in epitaxial MnSi
thin film reveals the existence of elliptically distorted skyrmion strings that
lie in the plane of the film. We provide proof that the uniaxial anisotropy
stabilizes this state over extended regions of the magnetic phase diagram.
Theoretical analysis of an observed cascade of first-order phase transitions is
based on rig- orous numerical calculations of competing chiral modulations,
which shows the existence of helicoids, elliptic skyrmions, and cone phases.
